Marieke's Tracht Rock and Gypsy Shirt

Since Marieke felt she was short on summer skirts and dresses we went shopping for fabric. What she really wanted was a dolphin dress, but of course we couldn't find any pretty dolphin fabric. Then she saw some sequinned fabric, and she wanted that, but I vetoed! Finally we found a light teal with delicate silver stars, which we could both approve of. But I felt that a whole dress in that fabric would be a bit too "Sunday", so I suggested a skirt in the star fabric, combined with a plain top. Luckily we found

My daughter's idea of style!

 a pretty teal that would be perfect. And then I spotted another fabric, a ditsy floral in just the right colors. I fell in love and had to have it, so we decided to make two skirts and a blouse.

Had to have this, I actually went back two days later to buy more, to make myself a skirt too!

Enough glitter to please Marieke, and not too much for mom.

Perfect combination (I don't know why the starry fabric turned gray on camera)

We bought piping cord in pink, blind zippers, matching thread and pretty pink buttons with stars, I dug up some pretty lace and old elastic I had lying around and I set to sewing.

Pretty trim.

 I drafted the pattern for both the skirt and the shirt myself. For the shirt I took inspiration from a favorite of Marieke's which has become too small and flimsy from going through the wash a million times. It's a very simple gypsy shirt with elastic in the neckline and around the sleeve hems, and a draw cord in the hem. The first day she wore it, she spilled tomato juice all over the front, so I camouflaged the stain with a pretty heart applique!

Stains gone! I used the feston stitch on my new Pfaff to do the appliqué.

The pattern for the skirt is based on the Rockmacherin skirts., beautiful German folk skirts that I absolutely adore. Once I reach my target weight, I plan to buy me one. For now, I'll create my own version of the tracht Rock. It typically has a wide yoke, edged with piping, ribbon or bias tape, and under that a pleated skirt, often with a contrasting band of fabric at the hem. The closure consists of a row of buttons and fabric loops on the yoke. I left out the contrasting band and the buttons, cute as they are, but added generous pockets, trimmed with some lace. I went for gathers rather than pleats (a lot quicker) and made some horizontal pleats near the hem. This will allow me to take the pleats out one by one as Marieke grows, so she can wear the skirt for many years to come. To this end I also put in an elastic in the back, which allows for quite a few cm of growth in the waist. Now for the big reveal:

Getting ready for the photo shoot, by putting on 'matching' shoes. She has some really pretty white sandals, but there is a school run today, so she needs her running shoes, and the colors match perfectly! She will run in this outfit, with shorts underneath the skirt, because Marieke has style like that!

Strike a pose!

Big pockets are a must.

I love pretty trim!

But I love my pretty girl most (and I love making pretty things with pretty trims for my pretty girl!)

I had so much fun making this. I really like it when I can work on commission, and Marieke is always so keen to wear what I've made, it really spurs me on. I have the silver stars fabric for the second skirt cut and ready to sew, but I'm still feeling under the weather today, so we'll see when I actually get round to sewing it. And I have to draw up the pattern for my own Rockmacherin skirt, too. I'm looking forward to wearing matching outfits this summer!