more deadline sewing

I made quite a big list of summer dresses and skirts to sew for Anna and myself but of course with all good plans I've found myself sewing anything but what is on the plan. Aside from the tutu that I made on Wednesday (glad you all liked it so much, it is pretty cute), I also made a skirt on Thursday night, and a top on Friday night, all so I could wear them out to dinner on Saturday night.

It helps immensely to have an enormous stash of fabrics and notions when you decide to sew something on a whim but you need it done pronto. I pulled some cotton sateen out of the stash that I had bought earlier this year during one of the very frequent sales at Spotlight, some black wool jersey bought from a garage sale some time ago, and two BWOF patterns already traced and I managed to get this outfit done in two nights of sewing:


The skirt is made from BWOF 9/2007, skirt 116 which I made a long time ago in a solid chocolate brown cotton and absolutely hated it. In fact I don't think I even wore it apart from taking a photo for this blog and it has since long gone from my wardrobe. Having large hips, I wasn't too thrilled with a skirt that put volume in that area, even if it did have a slim waistline. Plus the boring brown fabric was hard to accessorise and is not my favourite colour. And I used to loathe high waisted styles, so really I don't know why I sewed it in the first place!

But after sewing what has now become my favourite dress, Burda 8/2009 dress 128 (the dark grey dress third from the left up there in my blog header) which is a tulip shape with a boatneck style neckline, I have warmed to the tulip shape and I find it a more casual but still dressy alternative to wearing a pencil skirt for social occasions (otherwise I feel like I'm wearing work clothes). And I don't feel the need to suck my stomach in or wear spanx with this skirt, which is a good thing when you're going out to dinner. The pleats in the front of this skirt are almost lost in the graphic print, but I really like the colour and pattern of this fabric and I think it suits it really well.

I didn't line this skirt because the cotton sateen is quite dense and shouldn't have any see through issues. Because of the looser fitting and draping of the skirt there wasn't a need to do any precise fitting that you would have to with a pencil skirt, so it sewed up very quickly. I'm serious when I say it took me less than 3 hours to cut out and sew this skirt - it would take longer to go shopping for a skirt!

As for the top, I put aside my fear and loathing of sewing knits to make this very simple boatneck top and I'm glad I did because it turned out really well. I used Burda 2/09 top 108, which again I have made previously. But this time I had no wavy hems because I used some fusible interfacing along the hem line before sewing with the twin needle (thanks to Mary Nanna and Lady Jenn for the tip!), which also removed the need for facings because all I did was serge the edge, turn it to the inside and topstitch. Using a very stable knit fabric also helped too I think, this has a bit of one way stretch but not too much and in fact it almost sewed up like a woven which is probably why it worked out so well! Plus this is a very simple pattern consisting of three pieces - front and back cut on the fold, and the sleeves.

And I finally got to wear these sparkly shoes that I bought on sale when I was heavily pregnant with Anna (almost two years ago) - they match the purple in the skirt perfectly. I do apologise for any damage to your eyesight from those blindingly white legs of mine though!