Monday Outfit: “Artist” blouse + Cargo half-pants

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Good morning! We hit a milestone this weekend! K had her very first non-relatives sleep over, and it was a roaring success. My friend and wonderful neighbor took it upon herself to entertain five girls on Saturday night and generously offered to captain K’s maiden voyage into the land of sleepovers. Since they live only two doors down, I fully expected a call or knock in the middle of the night, but nope. K made it! You could see the confidence brimming in her when she returned home.

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Moving along to the Monday Outfit. I’ve been sewing with mostly printed fabrics these last few weeks, but this weekend, I felt compelled to return to my roots: linen + solids. The mustard linen blend should look familiar from the Debbie dress. And the cargo shorts/half-pants are made out of scrap vintage natural linen. It’s been washed so many times, it already has that soft, worn-in feel of well-used tea towels.

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The top is from this book and is described as the type of smock an artist might wear. I can see that, though it would be a shame to splatter paint all over such a stylish blouse.

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K thinks it’s the bee’s knees. Or maybe that’s the sign for “phat top, dude”.

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The cargo pants were an afterthought. I’m pretty sure I was drawn to the pattern because M almost exclusively wears this utilitarian design, a carryover from the 90s. I hear it experienced a minor resurgence last year, but my sources are a little sketchy.

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The pattern is from this book and was surprisingly easy to make. The 100% linen stretches and warps, so it was tricky to get the crispness I’d hoped for, but I find the boyish look charming paired with the girly top. Unexpected, don’t you think? Wait, I’m getting a memory flash that I have, in fact, made the cargo pants from Oliver + S before, and that was a serious labor of sweat, tears and love. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to construct these pants due to some kind of muscle memory.

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I finished the outfit just as the sun was starting to set, and I eked out every bit of light from our west-facing master bedroom. As I bribed K to take photos for this post, urging her to hurry because the sun was setting, I briefly acknowledged the ridiculousness of myself. I obviously take my Monday outfit posts very seriously…perhaps too seriously. Anyway, a well-loved outfit has been completed, and I’m feelin’ good.

 

15 thoughts on “Monday Outfit: “Artist” blouse + Cargo half-pants

    1. Thanks, Monica! Yeah, we’ve tried a couple of pretend sleepovers and she always got scared so we weren’t sure how this would go. It helped that my friend is fabulous with kids!

    1. Thank you, Kristi! Conveniently, it was wear yellow to school day so this was a timely sewing project 🙂

    1. The top comes together a lot faster than I expected. The finickiest part was the gathers and little tab at the base of the placket. I didn’t use a piece of “lace ribbon” as called for so making tiny folds was a little tricky. Overall, it’s a fun top to make!

  1. I love the all outfit! The colors look great on K and both patterns are adorable.
    I’ve actually already sewn the blouse it has been a great success around here too.

  2. Way to go, K!! I can still see confidence brimming in her! And an artist´s daughter in an artist blouse is just a perfect match. Such a beautiful yellow! Can you please make me such cool pants, too ;)?

    1. I’m pretty proud of those pants! They have that slouchy, easy, tropical beach feel to them and the top is really gorgeous in person if I do say so myself 🙂 thanks, Ute!

  3. This pattern is absolutely made to be sewn in a solid fabric – it highlights the gorgeous details so beautifully! I’ve always loved the blue the pattern book used, but I must say your mustard yellow is equally stunning! And I”m sure K also has some grey bottoms somewhere in her closet that would look great with the top:) Those cargo shorts are such a great nod to M’s aesthetic – and comfy to boot!
    Congrats on K’s first sleepover – exciting stuff:)

    1. Thank you, Lucinda! You have this book, right? It’s such a good one! Yes, we’re all very excited about the sleepover success — it’s something she’s been wanting to do for a long time 🙂

  4. Now I feel the need to go make that top right now! I’ve always liked it. Agree that the solid colour is perfect and that yellow is great. Super outfit and I fully understand the last minute of daylight photoshoot imperative!

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