Stashvember: my outfit: Onyx top & circle skirt

by December 9, 2015

Stashvember has come to an end and I even managed to sew something for myself. Yay! I've been planning on this ensemble for a while. It's a combination of Onyx, a crop top by Paprika Patterns and circle skirt outfit and I must be honest: I actually like it! And yes: I went back to pink. I must be honest. Growing out my hair, as I've been doing since May got me bored, so I decided to chop of a bit and get pink again. Feeling like myself again. Or as Anneke would say: going back to my natural color! The fabric has been in my stash since August, so not that long, but I wanted to make something and this fabric was calling my name. (Yes, fabric talks. All the time!) Also: I feel so good that this fabric has been used now. YAY. Only 500 more metres to go! So let's get on with that, shall we!

Details

Top

fabric: Christian Wijnants Black Shell, MonDepot
notions: bias tape from stash
thread: Amann Mettler
pattern: Onyx , by Paprika Patterns
size: 5

Skirt

fabric: Christian Wijnants Black Shell, MonDepot
notions: blind zip from stash, lining from Pauwels
thread: Amann Mettler
Pattern: "self drafted"
size: my size: 73 cm waist, 55 cm length.

Measurements & Size

My bust is 97 cm, so I knew that the finished version in size 5 would normally fit me. My waist is 73 cm which put me in a size 4. Since this would be a crop top, I picked size 5 and lengthened it with 6 cm. I felt way too exposed holding the pattern paper up to me in the original length. A full bust adjustment might fix that, but the added length worked out fine! I once made a circle skirt pattern, so I don't have to do the math every time ( I'm really bad at math, thank you dyscalculia!) This one is made up in my prefered length of 55 cm. I feel that this length is necessary for a circle skirt. Too short and my bum gets exposed with every twist & turn! Not what I want!

Adjustments & construction

Construction happened over a lot of different evenings and afternoons! I'm working on a lot of client projects at the moment, all mingled with working for Sew It Up and our brand new shop, so this was truly a project made possible by stolen minutes! I also call it: sewing for sanity. Let me start by saying that this fabric was a pain in the ass to work with. Fraying like crazy and falling apart the second my scissors touched it! It will be interesting to see how these garments keep up when wearing them! To tackle the fraying issue, I cut each piece with an extra 2 cm seam allowance, marking the real cutting line with chalk on each piece. I then put every piece under my serger, putting an end to the fray! The fabric is still very fragile, which is why I underlined the skirt pieces instead of lining them. The crop top variation of Onyx (also available as a normal length woven tee) has two waist darts at the front panel, I lengthened those too before cutting out my fabric. After trying it on, I removed 6 cm from the back again. Fabric was pooling above my bum. (Normal, I have a bigger bum than waist and bust and went with a size 5, too small for my hips!) Next time I might do a sway back adjustment to get rid of what left of the fabric in the back. The hemline, armhole and neckline on the top are finished with very thin strips of premade bias tape. The circle skirt is a basic circle skirt with a blind zip in the side seam going up all the way to the waist. Since the fabric was so fragile, I omitted the pockets.I really like a firm waistband, so underlined the fashion fabric and interfaced the waistband pieces with Vlieseline G785. My favorite for lightweight lining or stretch fabrics. All pieces are serged. What I noticed again when making this skirt, is that understitching and pressing are such important tools in my sewing arsenal! The waistband looked super bulky before understitching, and now it lays perfectly flat. So happy about that. Since the fabric was so fragile, I stitched the inside of the waistband down by hand. Luckily I like hand sewing! The skirt hem is turned under and stitched down by machine.

I consider this outfit experiment a succes and will be wearing it this Holiday season. Need to put a bit of black back on my pumps and I'm good to go! Since it's winter I'm wearing this outfit with an extra layer underneath! I'm not exposing any abdomen to temperatures under 20°C! A camisole makes this outfit also family gatherings and teaching appropriate, winwin! I also love the fact that it will be easy to combine this top with other pieces in my wardrobe, making them even more versatile. The circle skirt with one of my Netties will be great as will the crop top on other skirts be very wearable! I got a friend visiting yesterday (Hi Jolijn!) and she loved the crop top, so I plan on making one for her with my leftover fabric. Her birthday is coming up, giving me a good reason to sew it for her! What have you been making lately? Let me know!

Like what you've read? Get more with happy mail!