Historic sewing efforts

No title and please don't read on because this is a private post, part of therapy if you like, cathartic of sorts- at least I hope it will be. A n embroidered blouse- unfortunate peplum, probably bought in a sale and hardly worn... one of those mistakes... Nice embroidery though. from 1990 when Wendy came to visit Portmeirion.
These are very old indeed, the black with white skies is 1987 ( £20) mail order and has faded I wore it so much for skiing of course the black silk V neck ( 1989) is a monsoon and I still have it, worn quite a lot when I could still wear silk without rashes: approx 1984-1994 the grey gunmetal is an awful knit from Country casuals, a mistake: wrong colour, wrong neckline, too boring by far.oCTOBER 1991
Sewed this one myself in Calgary in 1984, from a royal blue AZTEC cotton from John lewis. It was very blue and a hot favourite for many years, it's a lovely quality 100% cotton. Until it faded and the red became prominent.
Liberty Varuna wool bought in the mid 1980's in my London time : 1986-1988 sewn into a classic shirt and worn quite a bit though I now realise it really is NOT my colouring...LOVE the colours and the print though! Very ARTY.
Dupion silk T top made by me. It's in gorgeous royal blue, green and navy. Very chic. Pre 1990 I think.
the go for it skiing t shirt is from ZELL AM SEE.- above the esso tiger one.
first ever time i bulk bought anything: of the 4 m&s tshirts from Llandudno I only wore the pink and the turquoise! The blue and black never and the green only a few times. 1987. very casual for walking weekends in N-Wales.
poloshirts, ms when I'd gotten into the habit of buying in bulk, only ever wore the emerald green one, wore that a lot.
East type folksy stuff, bought at auction in London so 1986-1988 and worn a LOT on sunny holidays. Love the batik palm trees the most.
Nautical wear- longing to go sailing I was.
Heraldic fashions of 1992/1993 Betty Barclay silk in travel maps blues blouse and Jaeger pure cotton Horsey heraldic shirt- my first ever garment at £1oo which was not a wedding dress or winter coat or tailored jacket but simply a cotton shirt? I even shocked myself. Still treasure it too.

BC of course: before Children.

And these were all ''mistakes'': gold striped vintage blouse from a jumble sale IN 1979- TOP LEFT-

, checked cottom jumper from m&s in Llandudno, a variety of EAST/MONSOON sale items which I never wore.

An awful lilac polo shirt- by mail order- and a made to order striped shirt from A VOGUE pattern that a N-Wales sewing lady made for me and which never suited me. Was good in theory but not in practice.
Silk blouses and large long shirts galore... The red is a Betty Barclay though, from Chester which I still have... My first silk blouse was April 1989 London, a b'day present. Then I got a black one in a Manchetser sale, a turquoise one in a London sale: £30 in 1990, a purple and a Blue one from GMEX - I think that was the CLOTHES SHOW LIVE- in February 1992 they were both £30 also.. wow.

then much later in a sale in Wrexham I found them in 1994 at £10 per silk shirt...

The shawl collar embroidered one is also monsoon, at the time I wore pine green quite bit especially in December- daft eh? Luckily I also have a periwinkle blue one, just lovely but don't know if it still fits, I was a 36B in those pre- children days and now an ashamed 32F!!!

( YES I really hate my chest and want to wear normal blouses again, not big chested ones)
All favourites, the navy spotted viscose worn out at work, the Laura Ashley ever so pretty vintage sprig viscose - with a lovely long skirt- the navy /cream floral cotton and the gorgeous voile cotton turq/green blouse that wore out and faded it was worn for summer days so very much.
Poppy cotton blouse I made for work, in that sewing room in North Wales with a view of the mountains. Cotton jacquard from Liberty. Emerald green cotton jersey covered buttons at cuffs.

Too much black and orange to flatter but I loved- and still do- the print!

All these 4 sewn by me for work as an accountant in the City. All based on a fitted cotton T, with fitted long sleeves and a jewel neckline, button at back neck. The green is a dupion with a high neck collar added and the pink/WB has leg of mutton sleeves: a gathered cap shoulder and a slim lower sleeve elbow to wrist with a row of black domed buttons.

The navy and white abstract pattern bottom left started it all as that was my ''go to'' blouse almost all the time, comfortable and easy to wear and smart.
These were all made or bought in Canada in 1983-1984. My first ever sweatshirt: clover an exact match to a colour me beautiful shade for me as a summer. A boxy jumper knitted in basketweave from dishcloth cotton- a huge success for several years cream/white mix !

A blouse made from a shirt pattern I learned to draft at the school of MITHE DE FONTENAY : couturier in Calgary. It has batwing sleeves.amazing two sided woven cotton fabric. And a cable knitted top I bought in a mall in Calgary- one of the very few things I bought there, a lovely classic at the time. Very Preppie 2 cables centre front.looked great in the hot canadian summer with tanned eczema free arms.
This is what I dressed in from 1977 to 1981: cotton shirts from jumble sales.... Large white men's shirts. Except the bottom 2 are denim/chambray bought from shops. Mum insisted I get my shirts from jumble sales and I never had any money to buy anywhere else until 1983 onwards....