V8888 Liberty silk camisole and shorts set

Hello sewing friends! It's been a long time since I last posted, or indeed made anything! I had a pretty busy July, where I also got very ill with what I now know was Glandular Fever. In my usual way I tried to plow on, and of course only made myself sicker.  Rest assured I recovered absolutely fine, though not very swiftly!

In July my best friend in the world, S, got married. It was such an incredible, happy day. I cried multiple times, of course. I'm such an emotional person and weddings generally have me weeping from the word go. It's just a beautiful thing to witness two people promising themselves to one another.

I was a bridesmaid, and so along with the other bridesmaid wanted to make some surprises for the Bride-to-Be. She loves handmade, thoughtful gifts so for her Hen Do both of us bridesmaids got her a few silly gifts, a nice "forever" gift and also each made something for her. This is what I made!

This camisole and shorts set were made from Vogue 8888 pattern. I made S, and my sister, the shorter length robe from this pattern as a thank you gift for being my bridesmaids, over a year ago. I have STILL not got around to finishing my matching robe, and therefore I never blogged them, as I was waiting to finish mine. I swear I will finish it and show you what they turned out like! Anyway, I made their robes in this beautiful Liberty print silk, and as usual I bought way too much (that'll teach me to believe the yield on the back of the pattern envelope!), so I thought it would be really nice to make S some summery PJs to match her robe. I know that she loves the robe and wears it lots, so I was pretty sure matching PJs would go down well.

And they did! Happily, she loves them. I guessed her measurements (eek!!!) as I wanted it to be a surprise. She is very petite and I roughly knew her waist measurement, so I wasn't completely stabbing in the dark. Anyway, they fit like a dream, and S loves them, which is the main thing! As a side note, her Hen Do was awesome. S arranged it herself, with a few surprises thrown in by us bridesmaids. It was a lovely, relaxed Sunday with tea, scones, cake, games, and crafting! S got each of her friends at the Hen to make a block for her wedding memory quilt. Such a great idea. Everyone got really into it, even the self-professed non-crafters! S ended up with such beautiful blocks. The quilt is going to look great.

Bust detail

Pretty scalloped-edge lace as underbust trim

I don't really have much to say about construction. I did change up the order of construction slightly, as I was using a lace for the underbust section that had a nice scalloped edge, so I didn't want to enclose it in a seam. I also decided not to overlay the cups in lace. I think in this fabric it looks better without the lace overlay.

Hem on the camisole

I also went for much thinner lace for the trim on the shorts hem. I think it looks a bit odd with the wider lace that the pattern calls for. I wish I had finished top of the shorts before attaching the elastic. Naively perhaps, I assumed the instructions would lead to the raw edge being enclosed when attaching the elastic, but this was not so.

Lace at shorts hem

All in all though, I think this pattern's a corker, and very useful for gifts. I can see me knocking up a few more robes for presents at some point, and maybe a camisole set for myself!

So, I mostly spent the rest of July recovering from the Glandular Fever, and then in August I did a grand total of one week's work before heading off to Provence on the most wonderful holiday. Ah it was the best! I did sew one garment to take with me - so I will show you that soon - but as soon as I got back from Provence it was time to head up to Edinburgh to appear in a play at the Festival. It was my first Fringe and I blinking loved it. It was so great. The cherry on top was that our digs were BEAUTIFUL. We were staying in a lovely house in North Berwick - right on the beach - so every morning before heading into Edinburgh to do the show I'd go for a stroll / run / paddle / stretch on the beach. Oh it was wonderful, and it felt so good to be out of the hustle and bustle, to have some head-space. Isn't it beautiful?

I will be back soon with some more garments to share! At the moment I'm finishing off an elephant-print tank top, so I better get that done soon before the weather turns all Autumnal.

Hope you're all well, sewing friends!