[Sewing] Work appropriate skirt and top

I had originally planned this skirt to be a pencil skirt, but I decided to use a different pattern. I ended up going with Simplicity 5914 for the skirt. Using the pin striped fabric was much easier than the plaid. So long as my grainlines were all going the right direction, I was fine.

 

I used McCall's 6282 for the shirt. You don't expect it, but even the SHIRT version of the pattern requires a zipper. And it's a little sad how often, inside the pattern, they try to tell you that zippers in the back of a shirt are COOL. Seriously "zippers are in now" and stuff like that. No, McCall's, just because you slap a "THIS IS COOL" sentiment on something does not make it so and does not excuse your laziness to just print out another page with a proper pattern. I say this, because I think with the way the pattern is cut, it does need the zipper. Which is just dumb.  (And now I shall save you from the rest of my zipper-in-a-shirt themed rant.)

 It's not as flattering on the dress form as I think it was in person. Just keep that in mind.

side view, a little more flattering

The skirt went together fairly easily, but I still can't really achieve the look of the pattern. The flounces are just not flouncing right. And the shape of the bottom made it difficult to hem. But I did get to use the serger a TON including serging the hem before I hemmed it. While it was difficult to get lined up right, it did make the sewing easier and hid the thread better. For the most part, I'm very proud of the inside of the hem. It is amazing how much a serger makes things more professional looking.

Oh, but the hem got even better after I ironed it (it's not ironed in these pictures).

So much basting :/

 One of the problems with the shirt was that it requires it to be gathered at the sides. That looks really awesome on the pattern cover, but as you see on the dress form....it's too low to show on a tucked in shirt. In hindsight, I wouldn't do it again on this particular shirt. It was the material and the neck line that drew me in. HOWEVER, I learned a lot! And got used to making gathers, as evidenced by all the basting stitches in the sewing trash can (and the leftovers from the serger).

I have apparently lost 2 inches vs the dress form! Everywhere!

So here's a not great picture of me wearing it all. The shirt turned out to be a little tight. Putting it on the dress form popped a few stitches in fact, but that was mostly due to the non-collapsible shoulders of it. It's easier to get it on me. And it will fight like that and be fairly comfortable....except I can't get it on with a bra and due to the sleeves, can't get the bra on afterwards. I guess it shall sit idle until I loose a bit more weight. I'd give it to my mom, but I don't think it would fit her either.

I'm tempted to go buy more of the fabric though. I had just enough. I'm fairly certain Joann's hasn't discontinued it. For now though, I have purple, grey, and black with stripes to work with!

(other patterns I bought that day to work with the purple, grey and black: McCall's 6511, McCall's 6356, McCall's 6078. I also got a work out pants pattern. EXCITED! Oh and 6510 so I can try and mimic a White House Black Market shirt I bought. Um, and 6462. I'll stop now, clearly you can tell I went a bit nuts with the patterns. )