Feelin' Zesty

I finally wore my first Ginger skirt yesterday to go up to Evanston.  Yes, I couldn't contain myself any more; I had to visit the flagship store of Vogue Fabrics!  The good news is, what I saw was pretty much the same as what the store in my neighborhood has, so I didn't buy a single thing!  Here are the modeled photos of the skirt, to show the fit.

And here's how I put it together into an outfit:

Sunnies:  Boden
Jacket:  J. Crew
Oxford:  J. Crew
Wedges:  Naturalizer
Nails:  China Glaze Electric Pineapple

Here's a closer look at the nails - I'm totally digging this color:

China Glaze Electric Pineapple
Island Escape collection, summer 2011

Show and Tell

Because, really, isn't that what a blog is?  Show and tell for grown-ups?

The entirety of Monday afternoon was spent finishing the two Ginger skirts.  And here they are:

Don't mind the un-fancy shoes.

Let's see . . . what shall we call this one?  Fit to be Tied?  I'm Your Present?  I'm ridiculously happy with this.  Honestly, I think it is the best thing I have ever sewn. Here's the back:

And here's the inside of the hem:

This was my first time using hemming tape, and I really like it.  I love knowing there is a pretty bit on the inside of my clothing that only I know about.

And here's the serendipitous Ginger:

No shoes now!  What is the world coming to?

This one came together much faster because 1) I'd already done this pattern twice and 2) I didn't do any piping.  I wasn't sure I would like the final product, but I really do!  It's going to look great with the gold metallic/flax linen and navy espadrilles I got from J. Crew several years ago.

Whew!  Now that those two projects are finished, maybe I can (finally) clean my house!

Weekend Roundup

I spent the better part of the weekend sewing.  I got most of my second Ginger skirt done, then had to let it hang before hemming.  Apparently this is a good idea for items cut on the bias, although I can't honestly say I saw any difference at all between pre- and post-hang.  Here are some peeks:

Waistband

I cut the waistband carefully, to look like my waist is tied up in ribbons!

The almost-finished, hanging skirt.
I'm very pleased with it!

When I started making the first Ginger (the lemon skirt), I had to get into my box of stashed fabric to find my fusible interfacing, and I found this:

printed denim

I have no recollection of where or why I bought this, but I was pretty happy to find it!  I considered making this paper-bag waist skirt with it, but then decided to stick with something I knew would look good on me, so it's well on its way to becoming Ginger #3.

Close up.  I can't figure out if the white portions are
resist (undyed) or printed on.  The white doesn't
go through to the back.

Of course all the sewing and ironing made a mess of my nails, so I put some Konad on top of Shay:

Zoya Shay
China Glaze Joy
Bundle Monster plate BM203

Please don't click on the picture!  Macro shows flaws I can't see with my bare eyes!  I like this pattern a lot more than I was expecting to.  It reminds me of endpapers in an old book.  And the China Glaze Joy - wow!  I bought the whole Romantique collection months ago, specifically for stamping, and have only used them as such. But this color is absolutely stunning, and I think I'll have to use it on its own one of these days.

FO Preview

I was a busy little bee this week and finished not only Mandarine but also my first Ginger skirt.  Here they are, unmodeled:

Mandarine

You can't really tell from the photos, but the buttons are navy and pearly white.  I LOVE navy and orange together, especially if you throw in some white!

Ginger skirt by Colette Patterns,
version 1

I am SO happy with my finished skirt.  I'm glad I did this version first rather than the one cut on the bias.  Now that I know it is successful, I feel a lot better about cutting into my lovely bow fabric!

This was the very first time I altered a pattern to my measurements, and the fit is perfect.  I can't wait to make lots more of these.  The cut is so flattering, it makes me look much slimmer than I actually am!

It was also the first time I inserted piping into a seam, and only the second time I've done an invisible zipper.  I made myself go slowly and carefully, and was successful with both:

I think I could even wear them together!

Slight change of plans.

When I went to the fabric store yesterday to pick up muslin and piping for my Ginger skirt, I came across this:

Needless to say, two yards of it came home with me.  I've amended my plan, and am going to make this one first.  There were two full bolts of this at my JoAnn's, whereas I bought the last two yards of the green bow fabric.  So I figure I would rather test out the pattern on this fabric, because I can get more if necessary.

The pattern is pretty straightforward, but I'm going to be applying piping around the waistband, which I've never done before, and for which the instructions are not included in the pattern.  So there is a possibility of failure.

Yesterday I traced out all my pattern pieces on pattern making paper, with the adjustments for my measurements, and today I cut out the pieces.

I also managed to get some work done on Mandarine yesterday:

Shoulders are sewn together and collars are attached up to the shoulder.  Now all I have to do is keep knitting each side of the collar until they meet in the back, then bind off and sew them together.  And of course, sew the side seams and sleeve seams and set in the sleeves.  The end is in sight!  I picked up some really interesting buttons today too!

Ginger

Well, I did end up ordering those two Colette Patterns (Ginger and Violet).  Seeing Erika's finished Violet Blouse made me want my own, and then I discovered a Ginger Sewalong.  How could I resist?  Sunni at A Fashionable Stitch is hosting the sewalong, and has a great lineup of guest bloggers who will be doing a series of posts to help guide even absolute beginners through making the skirt.  And may I just say, I wish I could have the skirt she made to kick things off?  That fabric is to die for!  And the red piping!  swoon . . .

Now, I'm not an absolute beginner, but I do feel that this sewalong will be a great learning experience for me.  I have been sewing since my teens (yes, 30+ years ago), but only intermittently.  In junior high and high school, I made a lot of my own clothes, and when I was in graduate school, I got into making quilts and a couple of Folkwear patterns entirely by hand (because I enjoy hand stitching, and also because I didn't have a sewing machine at the time!).  About ten years ago, I made Hubby a couple of shirts that he still wears and claims are his favorites.  And around that time, I subscribed to Burda magazine and made several pieces from the patterns included.

But my love of sewing is on-again/off-again.  I'll do a bunch of sewing for six months to a year, and then my machine will sit, alone and forlorn, for five or more years.  One of the reasons I haven't been as interested as I used to be is that I feel I'm much harder to fit than I used to be.  I now take one size for my hips but one to two sizes smaller for my waist, and I never learned to do any fitting or tailoring.  So I'm hoping to learn some of those skills through my participation in the sewalong.

I was down with some strange virus for the early part of the week, but yesterday I finally made it to the fabric store to get my fabric, and look what I found:

Is that not the cutest thing?  I love the retro vibe!  The pattern is quite large:

And the fabric is slightly thinner than I'd hoped to find.  But I just couldn't pass up this print!  I'm going to treat it like a stripe, and matching stripes is another thing I'm hoping to learn from the sewalong.

I also got some fabric to make a coordinating Violet blouse to go with it!

This is a cotton shirting, almost like a dotted swiss, but the dots are squares:

I actually think both sides are really cute, so I'll have to decide which side to make the right side.  I'm leaning toward the tufty side . . .

I decided after the fact that I'll do some black piping around the waistband of the skirt and maybe around the edge of the collar of the blouse too.  I have to go back to the fabric store anyway to get lining fabric for the skirt.

I did get my zipper, and also some hemming lace that matches the zipper, just because!

So now all I need are my patterns!  I ordered them on Monday, and they shipped on Tuesday, so I should be getting them soon.  In the meantime, I have to wash and iron the fabric . . .