Day 16 saw me teaching again - just a day's relieving - so I wore one of my favourite "teaching" outfits. I don't tend to sit down much when I teach, and this skirt swirls beautifully when I move. It's an out of print Butterick pattern. I've made both the long version, and the shorter one. The pattern piece (yes only one piece and a waistband) looks really weird and I was reduced to following the instructions and matching up all the notches. It's a bit like an Agatha Christie novel. Lots of clues to follow, but none of them make sense until the final chapter when Miss Marple gathers all the suspects in the drawing room for sherry and WOW, lo and behold, a skirt! It's comfy to wear and does move nicely. My only gripe is the zip, which ends up diagonally across the bootee. When I made up the shorter version I slashed one piece and inserted the zip straight down the back, which works better (IMHO).
The top is from Burda Magazine (again). It looked really interesting in the pictures, but not at all flattering on a bust when it was made up. I guess the model wasn't an hour-glass figure. I ended up stitching down all the pleats to stop them gaping open, which improved it no end.
Today I went to a friend's for lunch. She's got two very boisterous two and a half year old boys and a great Dane who thinks she's a lap dog, so I went for a real wash and wear dress.
This dress was a mongrel of two patterns and a little lateral thinking. The bodice is my basic T shirt pattern with a round neck (yes, I said round, read on) the skirt of the dress is from Burda Magazine, which I wore on day 15. I then added the ties at the seam between the bodice and skirt. When I wear it I bring the tie on the inside under my bra, so that the bodice is, effectively tied to my bra. It gives the illusion of a great fitting sweet heart neckline and doesn't ride up or move at all. My original intention was to make the whole dress out of the Lycra print, but I didn't have nearly enough fabric, so I added the black bodice and centre panel. In retrospect the mix works better, and is actually very flattering. The greatest thing about this dress is that it is machine washable, dries really quickly and never needs ironing. I've actually put aside another, similar print in black and white to make another one, only with sleeves.
Of course, this is one of my many pending projects, which is what I call those items in my fabric stash that I have a plan for. That way, my fabric stash appears smaller, since about half of it is actually pending projects instead.
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