finishing what I start (for a change)

So finally I managed to get some photos because we've had an amazingly sunny winter's weekend here in Sydney, still a bit chilly but warm enough for short sleeves. I'm looking forward to summer although I know that when it arrives I'll be big, hot and uncomfortable and will probably wish for cooler weather, but I've started looking ahead to make some breezy summer dresses instead of all the winter clothes I've been doing lately.

Anyway, remember this skirt suit (pictured left) I posted about during my week of 'wearing what I sew' posts some time ago? It is an olive green and pale brown polka dot skirt suit in wool that I made last year. Well I found some left over fabric, enough to make an a-line skirt with an elastic waistband so I could wear it with the jacket (unbuttoned of course!) and have an instant skirt suit. Talk about stretching my wardrobe further....

This skirt was one of the ill fated experiments with stretch rib for the waistband, but when I discovered that didn't quite work, I replaced the waistband with some stretch cotton elastene knit fabric and all is well. It's just an a-line skirt with a wide elastic waistband, which is wide enough that it didn't need a zipper to slide over my hips. I wore this to work last Wednesday (with the heels shown in both photos! not giving them up yet) and it was very comfy indeed. Although I think it may be a little long and a little loose so I may take it up an inch and in a little bit at the sides. I can't believe I'm still so vain and thinking about wearing form fitting clothes when I'm five months pregnant!


The top I'm wearing is another top I finished last weekend. It is a simple boatneck style that I made into a maternity top by placing the centre of the front piece on a diagonal to the fold of the fabric. This added a triangle shape to the bottom half of the front which allowed enough room for my belly and didn't alter any other seams so it was a very easy alteration. The fabric is a chunky rib style knit in black that I picked up in an op shop last year.




Because plain black is a little boring, I decided to add a line of black grosgrain ribbon around the neckline, topstitch with the twin needle with white cotton and sew on an orphan button I had in the stash. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this embellishing caper!



Well I'm off to do more sewing - with the olympics on 2 out of the 5 free to air tv channels here in Sydney and a sports obsessed husband (which I am not!) I have a fair amount of tv avoidance to do this week.....