Outfit of the Week: A Simple Knit Skirt

Does it drive anyone else crazy when a sub-one-hour, super simple project gets more compliments than a complicated slog?  I finally got around to drafting a skirt unit for my TNT tee for making knit dresses (I have one in the queue to show you).  It took me a while but it finally dawned on me that I could also use it for just a skirt with no tee attached, and knocked off a quick one out of this floral sculpted knit fabric I found two years ago on the G Street $2.97/yd table





The seams are serged, it has an elastic waist, and I used a machine blind hem to sew the hem and the elastic waist casing.  It took 45 minutes and cost a couple of bucks.

I had a meeting with outside people, for which I generally tone down my usual "dressing like a parrot" style, so I paired the skirt with a black tee (which also didn't take much more than an hour to make using my TNT tee pattern) and black tights, and a cheap "statement necklace."  Easy.

And yet, I think just about every one of my (female) colleagues complimented this outfit, and particularly loved the skirt.  Maybe I should stop making anything that takes longer than an hour!  More photos here.

Happy Leap Day!

As an single professional woman in my mid(ish)-30s, I am contractually obligated to love Tina Fey and 30 Rock.  I dutifully fulfill these obligations.  But truly, 30 Rock is an awesome show.  Last week's episode--available for free on Hulu as of this writing--was about Leap Day and it was hilarious.  I highly recommend a view.

In Liz Lemon's world, Leap Day is a big national holiday with a parade in every town, an old man who emerges from the sea every four years to throw candy in exchange for children's tears, and--of course--particular colors that everyone wears that day with St. Patrick's Day pinching type consequences for those who fail to do so.  I had to get in on the action, if only to pretend that I am friends with Liz Lemon.

Leap Day's colors are yellow and blue.  I don't have anything that combines those two colors but given how many clothes I have, ahem, there is enough yellow and blue in the wardrobe to last me a lifetime of Leap Days (though its position in February--usually the coldest month here in DC--is somewhat of an impediment).

For Leap Day 2012 I went for Vogue 8633, accessorized with a blue scarf I wore for just about every interview I had in law school, a blue bracelet, and my blue glasses.  And also tights and boots--it's a good thing DC isn't holding a Leap Day Parade this year because it is cold and pouring rain.

Due to my love of costumes, I generally dress for holidays.  In a subtle way, though; wearing the particular color associated with the holiday, rather than a literal Quacker Factory-style be-spangled, be-jeweled, and be-dazzled sweater. 

How about you?  Do you dress up for holidays?  And what are your big plans for Leap Day?  (My plans involve wearing yellow and blue and going to work.  Very exciting.)

Outfit of the Week: Orange and Navy

I made this blouse, McCall 5426, in the Summer of 2008 of souvenir fabric from Vietnam. I never wore it much, though, because I couldn't figure out what to match it with. It doesn't look great with gray, and I just cannot bring myself to wear orange and black together (it's just too Halloween--and I love Halloween!). Also, it gapes between the buttons. I finally sewed on snaps between them, but I think I have figured out the reason it gapes is that the self-facing for the placket is not sewn down on the inside, so it pulls open. I need to hand-stitch the placket facings to the underlining and I think it will solve the problem completely.

Last Fall I was walking down the street and saw a girl in a navy dress and orange shoes and she was an epiphany: orange and navy! They look great together.

So come Spring, I matched the blouse with 04-2008-108, which I made in the Spring of 2008 for my trip to Paris (I wore the skirt to visit Notre Dame and eat Berthillon ice cream). Obviously this photo is a few months old because I was still in tights.

The outfit doesn't entirely work, due to the belt and the shoes. I think they need to match. I wish I could find some comfortable gray shoes! But the orange and navy are spot on, I think, and with the addition of the navy I think the gray works too.

What are your epiphany color combos? I am planning a yellow and white blouse and not having a lot of success coming up with skirt ideas other than gray (although thinking about it, navy might work with that combo too).

Outfit of the Week, Q&A, and Stashoholism Confessional

A while back I mentioned that I was wearing my Burda 02-2008-108 ruffle shoulder top with jeans for a Friday. I had a meeting that day with some higher ups so I put a jacket over it for the meeting. A couple of people asked how the jacket looked with the shoulder ruffles, so here you go!

In the case of this top (non-jacket view on the right), the fabric is a drapey, flowy, lightweight poly knit and so the ruffles squish down just fine under a jacket. I looked reasonably professional for the meeting but I secretly knew that I was wearing something fabulous!

When I put on the jeans I confirmed what I learned with my hot pink corset-waist pencil skirt: I definitely have an athletic front thigh. The side seam swings noticeably forward at the quadricep. If I ever attempt to make pants (and the extremely cold winter convinced me I should probably own at least one pair of pants) I will have to remember to correct for that.

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Kathy asked, after I mentioned how much I hate them on my ballerina wrap sweater post, why I dislike facings so much.

My issue is twofold. First, facings are notorious for flopping around. When I put on a garment with a neck facing the odds that the facing has flipped to the outside are good. It's not that big a deal to tuck a facing inside when you first put it on, but some facings refuse to stay on the inside. Ugh! I always tack them down by stitching in the ditch at the shoulder seams, but for a wide neckline this is often not enough. Also, the edge of a facing can sometimes create a noticeable ridge from the outside of the garment in lightweight fabrics.

The second issue is not functionality, but pure aesthetics. Facings are just uglier than lining. They have no hanger appeal and if the interfacing loses its glue after a garment has been in use for a couple years then you have floppy intefacing on a floppy facing; so ugly.

A lot of the time, lining is not much more trouble than facing and you end up with a garment that is finished beautifully inside and out. Although I know they are used in commercial garments, facings seem very "homemade-y" to me. I do use them occasionally (such as in a vintage pattern I hope to show soon), but I vastly prefer lining or other solutions (bias tape finish, turn under and twin-needle topstitch) whenever possible.

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And finally, a fabric purchase. Sadly, it is another boring one. My strategy of looking at my flickr album of my fabric every single day to stay excited about the projects in there and keeping a list of projects waiting for me in stash* has helped me to curb my fabric buying in line with my goal of "mindfulness." I am excited about seeing some space appear on my fabric shelves and want to continue to work toward that goal.

*I think I may have put too many items on the list and feel a little paralyzed in choosing a project...though I won't be doing any non-bike sewing until I get back in mid-May, so I'm trying to decide a month in advance what I want to sew, which doesn't work for me.

Anyway, I would like to have 6 tops for my trip so I don't have to re-wear a sweaty top, or wash in the sink and try to line dry in The Netherlands' drizzly weather. So I needed a few more wicking fabrics. Fashion Fabrics Club had them for $3.95/yd, a bargain I couldn't pass up although I had sworn never to use FFC again after the non-stretch "stretch" lining debacle. They were as slow as ever in shipping, but the fabrics were as described. They have a waffle texture, so they won't look like real clothes, but I can still make them into cute tops! If you're thinking of ordering, note that the fuschia (far left) and the coral (middle) are sheer. The other three colors are nice and solid.

QUESTION: If any of you have used this textured fabric before or have RTW of it, which side is the inside? I assumed the more waffley texture would go outside, but when I pre-washed and hung them to dry, the waffley side seemed to feel less damp than the smoother side. Does the waffle side go toward the body and the smooth side toward the outside?

I am determined to finish my rain pullover, helmet cover, and spats this weekend so I can go back to the fun sewing of tops and skirts. Wish me luck!

What is your strategy for mindful fabric buying?

Outfit of the Week: On the Hunt

A couple weeks ago one of my colleagues wore fitted black pants with boots over them, a black t-shirt, and a red blazer to work. She said that her husband asked her as she walked out the door if she was off to hunt some foxes. It was adorable, both the outfit and the comment. I shamelessly ripped her off that weekend (I also SWF-ed her on her hairdresser, lol).




I was choosing an outfit that was suitable both for date night and for going to see a band play the next day (Jenny and the Holzers). I figured skinny jeans could be both sexy and funky.

For the red, I chose my silk cotton McCall 5708 Hilary Duff blouse and some RTW jeans, accented with a wide brown belt and brown boots. For the proper hunty, tweedy, English vibe I topped it with a blazer I bought in a vintage store when I was in high school. If it wasn't vintage when I bought it, I guess it has probably become so since!





I go through phases of wearing and not wearing this jacket, so it hasn't been in heavy rotation for the past 20ish years(!!!!--good heavens, that's scary), but it is old enough and has been worn enough that the lining is in shreds. I'm going to have to suck it up and use LindsayT's tutorial to replace it. Eventually.

The English Hunt is a look that never goes out of fashion (though fox hunting itself has, thank goodness). What do you have in your closet to evoke this classic style?

Outfit of the Week: Ankle Booties

I have enjoyed my fellow bloggers' participation in Me-Made-May and Self-Stitched-September, in which the goal is to wear something you've made every day and post about your adventures. Since my life is pretty much the Slapdash Sewist Self-Sewn Style Show (how's *that* for alliteration?) about 362 days a year--there might be 3 weekend days a year in cold weather when I wear RTW jeans and a RTW sweater--there's no real point in designating a month to do exactly what I already do anyway. But I have been getting the urge to do fashion posts lately, so when I have put together something I like, I'll share it.

I'm calling it Outfit of the Week, but I am certain I won't get around to it every week and probably won't do much in summer since I wear a dress every day and dresses don't style *that* differently one time from the next.

These two outfits were designed around my brown Born Gellar booties. I saw these on 6pm.com (if fabric.com is my dealer, 6pm.com is at least my runner) before I left for Turkey and instantly loved them. However, I told myself not to buy them because I never actually wear heels, like ever, and I really did not need them. I have a great pair of black booties (Clark's, totally totally comfortable) and I don't wear brown. But I kept thinking about them the whole trip and decided if they were still available when I came home I'd order them. They were, I did, they were too small and I had another crisis deciding whether to replace them. I did.

There looks to be one pair of black ones left in size 6 (I found them a half-size small) on 6pm. Even though Borns are generally great comfort shoes, these aren't so great. There is absolutely no padding in the forefoot. I put in the thickest forefoot gel pads I could find and it's better, but not great. The heel is as comfortable as a heel can be, though, and they are good quality. They're fine for wearing around the office.



I had a meeting on a Friday, when we are normally allowed to wear jeans. So to cheer myself up I went for bright, bright colors. I keep a variety of jackets on the back of my office door, and wore both these outfits with a green tweed jacket that has been in my wardrobe for about 8 years. I wore my Burda 10-2008-118 print dolman sleeve blouse, made out of a remnant of silk from a Fabric Mart bundle teamed with my lace-trimmed Burda 01-2008-127 green silk princess skirt, and bright orchid tights. The green in the silk print matches the skirt perfectly.

Wearing and looking at photos of this outfit has convinced me that I need to suck it up and fix the fit on the green skirt by taking in the waist. It sits too low and is therefore too long and slightly too large. Especially with the very roomy dolman blouse, the skirt needs to fit.

Well, the people who were supposed to attend the meeting cancelled at the last minute! I was so annoyed. I had dressed up on a Friday for nothing! I left the shoes in my office over the weekend, and wore this outfit the next Tuesday for the rescheduled meeting.

I reviewed my Burda 09-2008-108 lace tulip skirt in 2010 but actually made it on '09. Had I made it in 2010, it would have been hands down my favorite piece of the year in my annual wrap up. I cannot even tell you how much wear I get out of this skirt. I have never been a navy person, but this goes with everything (including the above dolman blouse). Because the lace is tone-on-tone with the under fabric, it is subtle and professional and just adds a little texture, rather than screaming "lingerie."

I teamed it with an oldie but goodie, my McCall 5314 wrap blouse of silk/cotton. I did not sew this blouse with French seams and I did not do a broad back adjustment to the pattern. It really strains and there are only a few wears left in it, unfortunately, before the seams shred. I've already opened the seams and darts to let them out and reinforce with interfacing, but it's not enough to buy me more time. I have been letting this blouse just sit in the closet, knowing it won't last too many more times. Why? I need to wear it up and wear it out!