What do you get when you combine a vintage blouse, a retro suit, denim and a touch of Erudite office style? This month’s Minerva Crafts UK project.

You could say I’m very easily influenced by lots of ideas and none of these ideas are mine. Truly.

Let’s take a simple 1950s vintage style from Simplicity (1460) and a retro print from Minerva Crafts.

I first discovered this retro print when Jo, a talented fellow Minerva Crafts blogger, when she used this print for a retro dress last year. Hi Jo!

So my project uses View A to and View C peplum of Simplicity 1460.

When I made the test blouse there were some tweaks needed to make at the front waistline at the right spot for me. A forward shoulder adjustment and slightly shortened front bodice is all I needed to make this pattern work.

The sleeve is built into the bodice so if I had taken out the fullness across the bust, I wouldn’t be able to lift my arms so this blouse is roomy.

Now let’s take that 1960s retro suit from Simplicity (2154) and research from Kyle’s epic skirt posts to sew a great lined pencil skirt. 

One of Kyle’s suggestions was to interface the hem before you start sewing the skirt together and this gave the hem a sharper finish.

Kyle also had some good research on lining and finishing the skirt vent.

I had no problems climbing up the airplane stairs wearing this skirt. I raised the skirt vent by 3cm.

This denim holds it’s own after an early morning flight. 

I’ve washed this denim (both fabrics really) in the wash and they’ve kept their colours.

The print colours held well under the Australian sun and the denim didn’t colour my fingers blue as I worked with it.

Workwear for me means suits and fitted clothes, so I wanted to take a risk and make a denim suit. Wearing double denim to work sounded like a risk I wanted to take.

Lastly a few weeks ago I watched Divergent, quickly followed by Insurgent. I love the military styling worn by Dauntless and the structured clothes worn by Erudite and Candor. So of course I looked into the design ideas by Carlo Poggioli. 

This suit is tailored and has a lot of blue in it like Erudite so I decided to use the blue ribbon from a previous Minerva Crafts project last year to add more blue to the jacket. 

The blouse collar is high so I’ve used that detail too.

Simplicity 2154 jacket is unlined and has fake pockets so I traced out a basic pocket bag to match the pocket flap patterns supplied. I’ve again done a forward shoulder adjustment and added 3cm at the centre back seam.

This jacket has no closure so it’s easy to wear. I had planned to make this jacket for my May project but it simply made sense to make this whole suit right now.

It’s still quite warm here even though it’s April but I found this suit was perfect for a full day’s travel and work.

Thanks Minerva Crafts for these new work clothes. I’m so tempted to try another faction outfit from the Divergent series.

PS: Both patterns are part of my Vintage Pattern Pledge 2016.