Flashback: 1983 Wool Suit

Thirty years ago this week I waying to finish my annual 4-H project.  l finished this suit on the morning of August 15, 1983, just in time to model it for the judges later that day.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of my 15-year-old self in the outfit, but believe it or not I still have the suit in my closet.  It's been badly moth eaten over the years and is way past salvaging, but I can't bring myself to throw it away because of all the good memories attached to it. That suit earned me trips to the State Fair and the State Make-it-with-Wool contest.  I wore it quite a bit and I got a lot of compliments. I should point out that a lot of credit goes to my Mom who spent many summers patiently helping my sister and me with 4-H projects.  She was my source of all sewing information and I learned far more from her than I ever have from magazines, college classes and online tutorials.

Here's a picture of the original pattern.  My pattern might possibly be buried in a drawer somewhere in my parents' house but most likely it was thrown away years ago.

 We found the fabric at our usual source, the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet in Pendleton, Oregon.  Back then they gave customers Pendleton labels to sew in their garments.  I bought some wool there last summer as we were traveling in the area and I don't think they do that anymore.  Too bad.

Look at all those bound buttonholes.  They are pretty dang good for a 15-year-old!

The pockets are real, not just "fake pocket" flaps.

I'm a lot bigger now than I was at 15 but surprisingly I can still almost get into the jacket.  Sure I can't button it, but the front edges almost meet if I tug a little.  The skirt has a 24" waist.  There's no way it will ever fit me again.

It doesn't fit me perfectly in the back, but better than anything else I've sewn for myself in the past 30 years so I may use it in my quest for a fitting shell.  Or maybe it just looks like it fits because it's so tight? And yeah I know the skirt CB seam is in the wrong place and it hangs weird, but that's because it's waaay too small and only held in place by a pin at the hip.

It's kind of sad that I haven't made myself anything that ambitious in the 30 years since, but I guess I know I could if I really wanted to, right?  Maybe this suit will inspire me over the coming months and I'll see what I can do now.