Another day, another SailBoat outfit!

The Cashmerettes are on a SailBoat Streak! This time, I pulled together a nifty red and navy version for my favourite mini Greek-Brit, the little lion.

I used a stretch navy cotton which I bought waaaay back in my earliest days of sewing (when I thought that would be a good material for wrap dresses. oops), and nearly threw out. This exercise has been yet another reminder that it’s worth holding onto your stash! You never know when you might need something random.

I also bought several stretches of striped jersey for various projects, and the red one matched the navy well, I thought.

And here’s the final result!

As you may have already seen on Lauren’s impeccable lobster version, the front of the trousers is a little flap with buttons. I used red topstitching to make them a bit more fun, though it was an exercise in accurate sewing, not generally my strongest point.

My first elasticated waistband!

Little topstitched vents on the trouser legs:

And here’s the top. Although I was using a jersey, I decided to do the internal facing anyway, which gave the neckline more stability, allowed me to do the cute topstitching, and made it easier to make buttonholes. Easier… but not easy. Jersey squishes around on sewing machines, so I realised that in addition to the reinforcing interfacing that’s on the back of the shirt, I also had to use this special hard interfacing that’s usually used for embroidery. You iron it on, sew through it, then rip it off afterwards. And it worked!

Here’s the inside where you can see the facing (basically a piece of fabric which follows the neckline, and allows you to have a nice finish):

The trousers in action!

And the inside

And now it’s in a brown paper package tied up with string (ok, a sticker) and about to make its merry way over to Haywards Heath…. Hope you like it little lion!