I work in a museum where the dress code is “smart casual”. For many of the staff, this most often means jeans, converse, and a nice top of some description. Maybe a White Stuff or Boden dress. For the visitor services desk (where I work), it means probably not jeans, and primarily Something Warm. The museum’s temperature controlled, to look after the objects, and of course the front door’s opening all the time, so it’s largely freezing. As someone who’s pretty much always largely freezing myself, this has been presenting some sartorial challenges lately. There have been days where, despite the heater nestled under the desk, I simply haven’t taken my coat off, which doesn’t look terribly smart! (Normal rules don’t apply when you’re in the museum’s garden, holding a chicken. Obviously. I love my job.)
To try and overcome my chilliness I have been knitting a cardigan… but I’m a very slow knitter, and I’m still only a back and half a sleeve into this one. Once I get into the cables, it could be a fair while before this cardi sees the light of day. Sewing, of course is much quicker, so I’ve been on the lookout for a nice smart jacket pattern that I could whip up in lots of colours to match all my different trousers.
This is Vogue 1435, a very smart suit by Tom & Linda Platt. I’ll never wear the dress (not least because I can no longer reach behind myself to do up a back zip – stupid fibromyalgia), but the draped jacket looks as though it would be interesting to sew, and easy to wear like a cardigan over lots of different tops. The collar would keep the back of my neck warm, and it wouldn’t look as though I’ve left my outdoor coat on indoors. The pattern recommends both tweed and linen, so that’s summer and winter covered right there!
I’ve been waiting for a pattern sale to come along, because Vogue patterns at full price are out of my budget, so I almost always buy them in a sale. Except I obviously wasn’t paying enough attention, because the sale in my local fabric shop ended yesterday. Drat.
But!
The pattern sale also means new patterns, and Marcy Tilton blogged about two new dresses that she’s designed for Vogue, so I had to go and check them out.
This is Vogue 9112, the “cirque” dress. It looks a bit short because the model’s extremely tall, but a centre back length of 35″ should bring it just about down to my knees. Again, the big collar should keep the back of my neck warm, the loose shape makes it perfect for wearing over trousers, and of course it has the all-important pockets, tucked away in the side seams. Unusually, this dress is shown in only one fabric, but I think the piecing means it would work well in different colours. As with all of Marcy’s patterns, the construction is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, but the resulting shape makes it worth the extra little bit of brain power required.
This one’s Vogue 9108, the “apron” dress. Designed as a layering piece, it comes complete with patterns for leggings and a long-sleeved t-shirt to wear underneath. Like several of Marcy’s dresses it’s longer at the front than the back, though I think that could be easily altered on this one if you felt like it. It’s designed for stretch knits, so this would be an extremely comfortable summer dress. (There’s also a version with crossover straps at the back, which reminds me of a dress I wore constantly during the early 1990s.)
But!
I’ve made two Marcy Tilton dresses already, and I simply don’t wear them very much.
I blogged about the construction of Vogue 8975, but I haven’t worn the resulting dress more than a few times, even though it’s extremely comfortable and I really like it. Firstly, I think I made a mistake with the neckline because no matter how much I iron it, it simply refuses to stay flat. Very irritating. So I think I need to unpick that and do it again. Secondly, I’m just not quite convinced that it’s smart enough to wear to work. I have done, and nobody’s complained… but it’s not quite on a par with the Tom & Linda Platt lady in her nice swingy jacket, is it?
I made this one in January 2014, and despite being deeply in love with it, I don’t think I’ve worn it once. Okay, so the tea-dyed fabric was an experiment, and I like the way it looks, but honestly, I can’t go to work in a dress covered in (albeit deliberate) tea stains, no matter how comfortable it is. And given the colour, and the smocking, and the nature of the museum… it’s just going to look as though I’ve borrowed a 19th century smock straight out of the collection. Not ideal.
I could re-make it in a different fabric (I have plenty, and I had lots of ideas and enthusiasm once I’d finished making it!), but at the end of the day, will I ever actually put on the resulting dress and wear it? I don’t know.
I go through these phases every now and then, of deciding that I must dress more smartly for work. Sometimes it’s brogues and button-down shirts. Sometimes it’s a nice tweed jacket. Sometimes it’s vintage dresses, novelty print blouses, or lots of organic cotton chinos.
Is it time to grow up, smarten up, and become the sort of woman who wears a smart jacket to work? Or is it time to embrace my inherent need for comfort and desire for funny-shaped clothes, and just give in to the eccentric middle-aged art teacher look? And more to the point, how on earth do I decide?