Part 1: Inspired wardrobe planning with Elliott Berman Textiles Fabrics

Vacation sewing in the summer is always the most fun for me because I have time to create inspired-by wardrobes.  Last summer, I read all about Chanel and created a summer/early fall wardrobe based on the books I read and designer collections.

This summer, I decided that Gucci and Elliott Berman Textiles would be my inspiration.

Sewing in the summer does have an additional wrinkle for me, if you will.  We spend much of the summer at our cottage (called a camp in Northern Ontario).  This means that I don't have my projector and millions of notions, tools, etc at hand.  It calls for a bit of planning ahead, for sure, but it is fun as it brings me back to my early days of sewing when I had limited resources at hand and learned to make do.

I began by browsing the EB Textiles website and came up with some fabrics that looked like they would work well together.  I was so excited that I put together a video with my new fabrics!

Fabric Unboxing Video via Instagram

 The next step was to start to read and research.  I began with House of Gucci by Sara Gay Forden.

I took the fabrics and looked at my pattern stash and focused on two companies that I adore and that I know fit very well - Jalie Patterns (a Canadian company with both paper and pdf patterns) and Sinclair Patterns (Australia-based pdf patterns).

Link: Jalie Pattern Ideas- Instagram Post

Link: Sinclair Pattern Ideas - Instagram Post

I decided that I would likely use a combination of the two pattern companies to create my wardrobe.

 Gucc! is known for their horse-bit hardware details.  I managed to source some from Etsy and plan to incorporate those into the wardrobe as well.  In my reading, in 1935 there was a leather scarcity. As a business that was known for their leather bags, they had to adjust during the war years and they sewed fabric bags with leather trim.  They also sold small leather accessories such as belts and wallets during years of scarcity and recession, to make their products more accessible to people other than just the wealthiest of clients.  I am going to be finding ways to incorporate this into the wardrobe.  More to come in future posts on that.

In 1966, Rodolfo Gucci created the iconic Flora scarf to honour Princess Grace of Monaco who toured the Milan store. I used the floral scarf inspiration in the creation of my first wardrobe item - the floral cowl-neck top. The neckline reminds me of a draped scarf and I love this pattern for its ease of sewing and that it can easily be dressed up or down.

Pattern: Sinclair Macy Top

Fabric: TROPICAL PRINT SLINKY VISCOSE JERSEY KNIT. ITALY

I absolutely love my first wardrobe item.  I will admit, I did cut out the fabric at home before I drove to the cottage.  I used my projector and had this top completed in under an hour.  Talk about instant gratification!  The fabric so was easy to work with (the edges didn't roll and it went through the sewing machine and serger like butter.

(Photos courtesy of my daughter during our road trip to Toronto, Ontario)

This knit has a beautiful drape but isn't slippery to sew.  It washes and wears well, and has already traveled with me on a road trip and it remained wrinkle-free - just pull out of the suitcase and wear it!  It dresses up or down easily for any occasion.  And the COLOURS!  It pairs with so many other items in my wardrobe so I know it will be in constant rotation in both my work and casual wardrobes.

I am now planning my next Gucci-inspired piece for this wardrobe so stay tuned!

Heather @ManitoulinThreads

PS  - Apparently, House of Gucci is also a movie.  I haven't seen it yet and will wait until I finish the book.  If you have seen it, please let me know what you thought of it!  Also, if you do buy the book, it is beautifully indexed in the back to source information quickly, and it has a photo section in the middle of various Gucci family members.