Inspired By...

Source: jpeterman.com via Lady on Pinterest

Some time ago I saw this skirt in J.Peterman catalog and I promptly pinned it to my "Inspiration" board. I decided I wanted some sort of plaid flannel skirt with lace trimmed lining peaking out from underneath. Considering the amount of money we've been having to sink into house/car maintenance of late I've had a limited fabric(and shoe) budget. However, Fabric.com in their omniscience* sent me a coupon after I had placed fabric in my cart then took it out. Then they had a sale on cotton flannel. It was a win/win.

For the pattern I used the a-line skirt from Vogue 8679 (All the patterns aside from the jacket in this envelope are wardrobe work horses that are easy to make. I HIGHLY recommend you pick it up during the next 3.99 sale.) which is the same as my red linen skirt. This time I decided that I would put the zipper in the center back and add pockets to the side seams. I used a generic pocket piece from a Simplicity pattern. I didn't really thing to take a lot of photos.  I do have one of the lace I'm using, reclaimed from a defunct steampunk costume.

I also have a photo of it hanging, which probably won't be news to those of you that have Instagram.

Pardon the towel on the floor, I put it there under my drying laundry tree to catch drips. I also use that tree for hanging works in progress. I need to find a link to it and share, its the best $20ish bucks I've spent in a while, as it folds and collapses and fits in the closet, easy peasy. Anywho. (update, you can get it on Amazon here)

So, reclaimed lace, on sale flannel, and lining in this skirt. The lining, a bemberg rayon, was the most expensive part of the endeavor. I'd say materials costs were around $25 dollars, the inspiration skirt retailed for about $109 on sale, though it seems preliminary to tell you this now when I haven't finished the thing yet.  I stupidly serged my seam allowances BEFORE putting in the zipper. DOH! I can fix it, but it meant not getting it done for this work week. Which brings me to another point, my work wardrobe. I'm really needing to rethink what I'm sewing now that I'm working on the day shift. Its I.T. corporate casual which means acres of kaki pants and blue polo shirts for the men. Women its a bit more open to interpretation and I find some of my old staples to be threadbare or not quite right in fit. So I'm working on TNT patterns.

First up, the button blouse for shirting weight fabrics:

I'm doing  sz 18 view B in a D cup fit. I graded the waist and hips from an 18 to a 20, did a full bicep adjustment, and a rounded upper back adjustment. I have a feeling my first muslin will reveal I need a sway back adjustment, but I didn't want to make that one yet. Once that's done I already have four different fabrics picked out, one of which is my Hello Kitty Liberty of London. I'll fill you in on the other TNT's as I get to them.

So, on to other stuff. I had my CT scan, no results back as of yet.The chalky white stuff they had me drink prior to the test played havoc on my digestive tract. I'll spare the details, but it was not pleasant. I've had to eliminate scrambled eggs from my diet, too. I can eat them in other things, and I'm having to limit dairy and coffee. Small amounts of fruit seem to be OK. Its a process of trial and error at this point.

vintage thimble find

The other sour note of the week was Simon damaging his (mine, really, had it since high school, 1992) flute. He dropped it in band class, got it wedged between instrument lockers and then bending it badly when "yanking" it out. I completely lost my shit when he showed me, to the point where Simon was cowering in his room crying (I sent him there so I wouldn't hit him) and husband taking me to the repair shop, pointing out  that I was in no state to drive. We walked through the antique store next door which I always find to be a calming thing. I managed to find the PERFECT ceramic thimble, to which the ladies at the check out were surprised when I said I planned to use it for actual sewing. In any case, by the time we got back home and ordered pizza, I was calmed down, Simon apologized and promised to be more careful in the future. It really was an accident on his part, but an avoidable one. He doesn't think about his surrounding enough. The repair is going to be about $30 so I foresee some yard work in his future. Mama's flower beds need tending.

*I totally forgot to add this at the end. I almost applied for the sys admin job at fabric.com last year but I couldn't take the hit on insurance, and I was lacking a few skills they needed. That said, if you wonder how they know about browsing and sending coupons, the answer is tracking cookies. If you have an account and have logged in from a computer and then go back to the page, it logs it and sends it to a database that goes "hey, send them a coupon".  Because retail psychology (yes, that's a real degree/area of study) says it works. And it does.