The other reason I sew is because I haven't had much income. Combine low income with needing specialty sizes? Insert sad face here. However, I can't afford to just walk into FabricLand and buy 2-3m of good fabric (even on sale it's still really pricey). One of the best sources of fabric has actually been the thrift store chain, Value Village. It can be really hit or miss, but when I score, it's usually awesome!! Sure, I have no clue what the fiber content is, but how it feels matters more to me.
I found this fabric quite awhile ago. It was a large piece. It waited patiently in my bin and finally in the fall I made a "simple dress". When my mom saw those pictures, she was not impressed. While my mom is not a style maven, I take her opinion seriously. The dress had to go. I figured the easiest thing to do was turn it into a skirt.
Of course, I couldn't just stitch up the armholes and keep the casing for the ties as the waistband. No, I needed to use a real pattern, cause darn it, I have a drawer full of them that need to get used! I picked one (I actually didn't have much for stretch knit skirts), and look! It's my trusty New Look 6735!! Fabulous! I don't know if I'll ever make the wide leg pants, or the cardigan (I like cardigans, but that one looks a little too Grandpa-ish for me. I think I don't like the sash).
I think I might have shortened the upper part, and I added pockets. Of course...I could not fit all the pieces onto the taken-apart dress. But I still had tons left so no problem.
I wore this outfit to work (substitute teacher) the day after finishing, and got great comments before the day even started. I didn't wear those sandals, but I wish I had LOL. I haven't worn skirts in a long time. So long in fact when Rob asked what I was making, and I replied "A skirt" he said "You don't wear skirts!". How does he notice that, but can't remember Megan's friend's name? I love how this skirt is twirly, but because of the great shaping, it doesn't really fly up in the wind. It's slim at the waist, which I think is key for me. No gathered skirts for me. The t-shirt was slim fitting, which is also important. I will definitely make more of this pattern.
I also wanted to make tops with the left over fabric. I wear patterned dresses, so I figured, with the right top, it will simply look like a dress. The first top I made, just the simple t-shirt from ....New Look 6735. It looks fancy in this polyester fabric though LOL.
I had to severely alter the colouration on my phone camera. The fuchsia was showing as salmon! It looks fine with the skirt, though I haven't had the opportunity to wear that combo.
I still had fabric left. Yup! It was in somewhat smaller pieces now, so I knew I had to do something with some sort of piecing. Then, the Plitvice was released. Bingo! I may have had to seam the back instead of one piece, I can't recall and I'm not running up two flights of stairs to check.
I had a job interview, and I thought this would be the perfect outfit.
I didn't wear those flip flops!
I didn't have the fusible stay tape, but people in the FB group said they cut narrow strips of fusible interfacing, so I did that. Worked great.
After the interview, I got changed into these grey Sequoia pants I haven't blogged about yet. I needed photos of the pants, so I employed one of the kids. I'm not sure why she thought I didn't want my head in any shots.
I didn't make any alterations to the pattern (maybe shortened it near the bottom). I wasn't sure how it all went together. One tester had done a FBA but I just wasn't sure how to do it. I think the middle section is a little small over my summer fluff. I think if it had a bit more width, the gathers would show better. But how to keep that princess seam where it should be? The gathers sort of rode upwards and sat on my upper chest, and pushed the cowl up. It did feel a little wide on my shoulders.
The cowl is quite nicely constructed to prevent flip out and gaping.
When I was visiting my mom the week before the interview, she just happened to have a fuchsia cardigan that she never reached for. Of course I'll take it! Perfect for movie night in the park (same day as the interview, which is why I changed into the grey pants).
I also have a solid fuchsia top but I think it'll be too much pink. I even have fuchsia pants. Not sure if it matches well enough. But I can really mix and match these pieces. White, grey, black tops with the skirt, and grey or black pants with tops. And this huge piece of fabric was $5.99.
$5.99 for "designer" skirt, and two tops. Pretty awesome!
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