Bright green for attention!

A few of my work colleagues know that I sew my own clothes, so I often get comments from them like: "did you make that? Looks great". But it's not often that random strangers ever ask or compliment me on something I'm wearing - I am told by my friends that I posses an excellent resting bitch face, so I guess I don't encourage interaction! But I've worn this outfit twice in the last two weeks and both times some has complimented me on the skirt. I guess I stand out in a sea of sensible clothes maybe?

The skirt fabric is a lightweight wool fabric bought from the Fabric Cave late last year when I was dropping off a donation of fabric. There was almost 3 metres of it for the bargain price of $8, so I have plenty left to make something else. Maybe a matching jacket so I'll have the perfect outfit for next St Patrick's Day.....

The skirt is nothing special, just a simple lined pencil skirt with a kick pleat at the back which I made from an old Vogue Michael Kors wardrobe pattern that is now OOP (1826), from which I've made the shell top pattern many many times. The skirt has no waistband, but I've used cotton tape around the waistband in between the fashion fabric and the lining fabric which is stretched slightly to make the waistband hug my body. I don't find this overly comfortable because I'm used to wearing clothes slung low around the hips, but this method certainly stops a pencil skirt swivelling around whilst walking in it. I have to thank my sewing friend Sharon (this post at her blog Petite and Sewing) for this tip - until she explained it to me I had only used the tape to stop the waistband from stretching out, not for shrinking it slightly.

I don't have anything to report on about the skirt - for an excellent run down on how to make a perfect lined skirt have a look at this three part series by Kyle over at Vacuuming the Lawn. She covers everything you need to know. But I do need to proudly show my superb pattern matching at the sides and back:

The top is Burda 8/2015 #120, which was my Burda of the month project in September last year (posted here). At that time I made in a horrible fabric that wrinkled and puckered terribly but despite that I really liked the pattern. This time it's made from a long term stash resident - a drapey fabric of mysterious composition, most likely 100% polyester with a textured surface finish similar to crepe. 

This fabric didn't press very well, but it does drape beautifully. I finished the edge of the fabric fold  on the front with a rolled edge on my overlocker instead of a narrow edge, which helps it fold nicely. Of course being black you can barely see anything, so you'll have to take my word that it looks just the like pattern above.

I also remembered to make the opening at the back neckline slightly longer than the pattern allows for - it just makes it easier to get it over my head which I'm beginning to think must be bigger than the standard Burda model sized head since this frequently occurs with my Burda projects!

So overall, two simple projects but together they make quite an impact thanks to the fabric. Reviewing my projects so far this year it seems I've had quite a colourful start to this year, must be the crazy heat we're having affecting my fabric choices!