Monday, March 31, 2014

Serendipity (AKA the Rachel Menken Suit)


What is a Mad Men Challenge without a candy cigarette?

As soon as Julia announced the third Mad Men Challenge, I knew I had to join up, and I started immediately looking for inspiration. I started a Pinterest board. I binge watched Mad Men. There are so many beautiful outfits to choose from! One in particular stood out to me. Rachel Menken's watemelon-coloured suit from Season 1 Episode 6: Babylon. The colour is FANTASTIC, the collar is interesting, and everything about it is so sophisticated and beautiful. I knew that I had to make it.

Photo from Tom and Lorenzo's Mad Style

A few weeks later, my Mom and I went on a girl's roadtrip to visit my Grandma. This usually includes a stop or two in antique stores along the way. We were browsing through some old patterns, most of which were ugly 70's things, and found the perfect pattern for the project. It was uncut, in factory folds, and only one size off of my vintage pattern size. Hurray!
 
Now came the next challenge: finding the perfect fabric. My local fabric store appears to have a large collection of fabrics, but the majority of it is either quilting cottons or crazy printed dance/performance wear fabric. I went shopping prepared with a list of a few different outfit options in case I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. After browsing for about twenty minutes, it looked as if I wasn't going to find anything, until I happened upon the perfect shade of watermelon!




So I had my fabric, I had my pattern, now all that was missing was the accessories. It just so happened that I had the perfect floral print scarf in my collection, as well as matching lipstick and nail polish. This project truly was meant to be!








Pattern:

Jacket from Butterick 2213, Size 18, graded down to size 16.
Skirt from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing

Fabric and Notions:
Watermelon Bengaline fashion fabric
Cream Bemberg Rayon lining
Fusible Interfacing
2 Cream buttons
1 9" Cream zipper


11 comments:

  1. Hey there <3
    I've literally only just found that you have a blog. I know, I'm slow but it's sooo cute! I think your outfits are beautiful and I love the pics you put on Instagram. Keep it up!
    Love from Lois (frizzylois on Instagram)
    Xxx

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lois!
      Thank you so much! You are such a sweetheart!
      xox
      Rachael

      Delete
  2. Such a perfect version of Rachel's suit! Awesome!

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  3. This looks great! Just like the character, and it fits you so beautifully too!

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  4. Absolutely beautiful!

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  5. Nailed it! Wow. You did a great job and that outfit looks as great now as it would have in the 60s.

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