Sheerly Oonatastic: killer (in more than one sense) clothing

If meeting people online is great (and it is), meeting online people offline is even better. Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow proposed that we have another Toronto meetup at the Bata Shoe Museum, where one of the exhibitions is "Fashion Victims", followed by a swap at Ewe Knit on Markham St.

An event! A sewist event! Which requires an outfit! Of Oona-like proportions! To recap: the fabulour Oonaballoona is having a birthday, as one does, and we are celebrating with Oonapalooza, as one does. The idea is to make something Oona-esque. Gillian and I sewing-dared each other to have our makes done for the meetup, and so we did. The outfit details are further along in the post. First? Meetup!

The exhibit itself was quite nifty, although I don't have many pictures because my camera battery was dying and I forgot to bring the other one. Not everything on display was truly lethal, sorry to say. Like this regency dress, which people were only afraid might kill you with cold because it's so flimsy...


Or these shoes, collected under the title "Mauve Measles," because the popularity of the cheap dye was compared to a contagious disease. In fact,these are so far from deadly, the purple dye used to make these shoes was discovered by someone looking for a cure for malaria!


Finally, a truly deadly dress. That lovely green shade comes from arsenic; if you got sweaty (or glowed, since you're a lady and all), the As could leach out of the dress and be absorbed into your skin.


I love the idea that these "sheer-look" boots were so scandalous.


They did have those wood cages that women wore, which would sometimes catch on fire and you'd go up like a chimney thanks to that heavy dress over top. An argument, perhaps, for lighter garments. Who's laughing now, regency nay-sayers? They also devoted space to hat-makers and the poor shoe-shine boys, as well as the seamstresses in the garrets and radioactive paint girls... this clothing of people thing wasn't terribly healthy.



After the museum, we went to Ewe Knit on Markham (stopping for coffee first to warm up and kill a little time). It's a lovely store, with good space in the back for workshops and knit-alongs... and swaps. With wine! (And a raffled gift card, but I didn't win so that's irrelevant -- but seriously, thank you, Ewe Knit!)



Look at us all, in our pretty summer dresses. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate.



Afterward, we went to the Victory Cafe for dinner and excellent conversation. At this point, my camera died. So, enough pictures of the day, she said ironically; on to the outfit. Which we totally forgot to photograph the day of, mostly due to the rain and unseasonable cold, so in timey-wimey fashion I've gone into the future (the end of August, specifically) to take pictures outside the Drake Hotel (because I won tickets to see this show).

Anyway, yet another sewalong that I wound up unofficially participating in because I didn't take pictures in time (although you can see proof that it was done in a few pictures on Gillian's blog). Alas.

Striking my best Oonaballoona pose:


At first glance, this may not strike you as a particularly Oonatastic outfit. It's not quite as bold or dramatic print- or colour-wise as her usual oeuvre. However, Oona is also the master of sheer fabric as well as draping fabric on the judy and having something fabulous result. So I have three words for you: sheer maxi skirt.

The top is my fifth Sewaholic Belcarra made from the same white cotton eyelet I used in the white sheath (now with biking flares). It's a lot shorter than usual, and getting that scalloped hem meant doing a bit of math because the front and back pattern pieces aren't the same length. Fortunately, I'm rather fond of math.

I had to piece the sleeve "bands" together, but I had just enough left of the scalloped edge to make it work.

No underlining, my friends. That's pretty bold for me. I French-seamed everything but the sleeve bands, which means that this top fits a little more closely than usual since I don't seem to be able to sew French seams on the original seamline. (The fabric is stiffer than the others, which may contribute to the closer fit. Somehow.) I also used ready-made bias binding for the neckline, and I didn't end up with the usual weirdness there. So, yay for that!

I now have enough versions of one pattern to participate in One Week, One Pattern -- a sewing challenge that doesn't involve actual sewing. This I can probably handle.


On to the skirt. Oona loves a maxi. Loves it. And she loves sheer^*. I just happened to have this sheer silver-embroidered yellow sari what I bought last year -- I think the plan was to use it for the yoke in my pistachio Macaron -- and it's been sitting, unloved, ever since. Yellow is a bit out of my comfort zone; sheer embroidered yellow doubly so. Perfect for Oonapalooza, if you ask me. In the pictures, it seems to come across as more cream than yellow, but trust me. 'Tis yellow.

I hated the idea of cutting into the embroidery, so I played with the piece a bit and realized that I would have just enough to make a column skirt with the embroidery going up one side. In fact, I had enough to double the skirt fabric, which had many benefits. Not least of which is the fact that doubling the fabric takes the skirt into sheer-but-wearable territory. But also it let me create a thigh-high Oona slit where the inside view is just as nice as the outside.


The slit and hem seams are enclosed, and I probably could have figured out how to enclose the side seam so the whole thing could be truly reversible, but I didn't bother. Unfortunately, this fabric is some polyester stuff that refuses to press, so the slit and hem seams are bit fluffy instead of sharp. I'm sure topstitching would help, but I didn't want to spoil the line. Alas.

I played around with several waist ideas, but went with the simple gathered elastic waistband because 1) any darts would show through the fabric, and b) elastic was easier. It's not the nicest look, but I managed even gathers (until the last few inches, which are in the front, of course, but I figured the waist would be mostly covered anyway, so whatever).

Back view, all column-like. My legs are just long enough to wear this without dragging -- in my platform wedges (which are nowhere as excellent as Oona's, but I've sort of resigned myself to coveting other bloggers' shoes)


^*She also loves the Anna, as do I, and had I found suitable Oona fabric, I would have been all maxi Anna'd up in here.