Blooming Lovely

Today I have been mostly making bloomers. I made a pair on Tuesday afternoon, from some deep purple cotton lawn, which I wore to work on Wednesday. They were so comfortable in this heatwave we’re having, that I got up today (my day off) and made four more pairs!

Please excuse the creases on the black ones – I tried them on when they were finished, and they were so comfy I wore them for most of the day! They’re cotton lawn, trimmed with broderie anglais trim that I salvaged from a skirt that wore out years ago. The red ones… I’m not quite sure about. I love the trim – it’s vintage white nylon lace, with a little row of red machine-embroidered roses running through the middle. Worn with the right dress over the top they might look great, but at the moment all I can think of is Christmas!

This pair’s better – a slightly different shade of red, trimmed with inch-wide nylon lace. I want to stand on an embankment and wave these at a train, though I suspect I might get into trouble! And yes, I know that Jenny Agutter waved a red flannel petticoat, not a pair of bloomers, but wouldn’t it be a fantastic image to recreate? Both red pairs are polycotton, left over from my Steampunk costumes. I’m not sure why I had so much left, or why I decided to make two pairs of bloomers given that I have no other red clothes to wear them with, but I like them anyway.

The white ones though, they’re my absolute favourites.

I pulled the fabric out of a box thinking it was going to be the slightly stiffer polycotton, and was thrilled to discover that it was actually a piece of cotton lawn, just big enough for a pair of bloomers! But look at this trim, isn’t it absolutely adorable? Little pears, for goodness’ sake! I have no recollection of where I found it. It could have been a random Fabric Land bargain, it could have turned up in one of my vintage haberdashery boxes. I only had a small piece, so I’ve been waiting for the perfect project to use it on – and here it is!