This idea for has been knocking about my head for a little while now. I scored some houndstooth cotton for thruppence ha’penny on a charity-shop crawl up north this summer. So today I’m taking advantage of the early morning quiet to commit some of it to pixels and see if I can work out how to bring it to life.
As sqwibbled out on a scrap of magazine during daily commute, dress ambition in all its glory:
1. 
take one top…like Vogue 8392
2. change sleeves to something less vanilla [perhaps a cap sleeve like Vogue 2538, or a kimono or raglan sleeve? I see pattern-drafting ahead]
3. try out a perky collar or sort of funnel neck [like wot the uncomfortable-looking gal is sporting in the photo?]
and
then
add
…
4. 
one skirt, balloony in shape, for example, Vogue 8328 and
5. raise the waistline to empire line level,
6. lengthen the skirt in the middle third [so it doesn't interfere with the way the folds go in at the bottom, nor the pleats at the top],
7. replace the pleats at the top front with a single inverted pleat/gathers,
8. move the zip to the side,
9. insert two sashes in the side seam to tie at the front/back,
10. add pockets [you still with me?],
then take deep breath and finally…
11. …line it.
Ha – dress ambition is ambitious! All this from 2 yards x 60″ wide. Gulp.
Oh and did I mention a deadline? By 9.00am Tues 5 Jan. One thing at a time: a muslin.
and all this alongside tackling a top-to-toe home spring clean in daily chunks, preventing the cat ingesting too much tinsel and wrapping paper, watching movies, entertaining eagerly-anticipated 4-day house guests*, and a gazillion other things which suddenly jostle my consciousness for attention and a place in the queue. Good grief! I love Christmas holidays. Such promise.
*One of whom is an expert pattern cutter. Hehe. You see what I’m doing? It’s all coming together in a highly complicated plan…
