Co-ord sets

I remember back in the early SWAP (Sewing With A Plan) they advised sewing a matching skirt and top from a print fabric as a core to the 11 piece collection. Now many years later there's something called a co-ord which is a matching top and bottom from the same fabric!

I got a lot of wear from the Blue Culottes and Blouse Co-ord Set I made in June, particularly when it was hot. So I decided to have a go at making some more. The best thing about a co-ord is that it's like a dress, wear the two pieces together and you have an instant outfit! But even better you can (theoretically) split the items and wear them separately.

 

In both sets I used the same patterns.

The blouses use the body and collar of Simplicity 9200 View C, and then a sleeve adapted from NewLook 6669 with a self drafted band.

This was in order to use the fabric in the most economical way.

For the culottes I again used the trousers from NewLook 6438, though altered for my crotch curve, and elastic waistband and slash pockets. The pink floral are self fabric, though a modified pocket shape to suit the fabric scraps.

I had slightly less of the navy print, so the waistband and pockets are from scraps of a plain navy viscose I'd kept for such a scenario.

Once completed I noticed that the puffed sleeves pulled on the shoulder seams causing the sleeves to fall off the shoulder - not a good look. However viscose can shrink unpredictably, so I've added stitched tucks - 1 in each shoulder for the navy, and 2 in each shoulder for the pink. If the fabric shrinks widthways I may remove these later. If not the tucks are a nice detail.

Really neither of these co-ord sets would make a good base for a SWAP for me. 

The navy and white is only 2 colours, so doesn't meet the SWAP guidelines of  2 neutrals and a colour, but will be easy to mix and match with plain navy, plain white or any bright colour. 

The pink print was a charity shop purchase. A dark grey background with ochre, white and 3 shades of pink. I could wear the culottes with a plain white top and the blouse with some grey linen pinstripe trousers, but that's about it. I'll have to see if I have any suitable plain pinks......