November 16, 2010

Readers, dear readers, write on the wall...

Which is the fairest skirt of them all?

It's official: I now have not one but two mustard yellow skirts. And I'm starting to get obsessed with this fabric (I had to buy all 4,5 meters left on the bolt, or pay the same for the 1,5 I orginally wanted... so have enough left even now). I've wanted to find this colour since last winter and it now seems to be the star of my autumn/winter colour plan. A strong colour, but not too saturated for a pale girl like me. Golden, but not in such a way that it makes my hair look colourless... While working on this skirt, I realised it's also like the colour of one of my favorite Indian curries ;)

Fortunately, I don't have to choose between my skirts. The only choice I have to make is which one to wear today.

In my latest post, I told you about my problems with the pattern and assembly of this skirt. I'm happy to report that it is finished now, and the problems have been sorted out. I do like the look, although it wouldn't work in every fabric. The interesting alignment of the front pleats throws them massively off grain. You need a fabric which hold the pleats when pressed and doesn't stretch too much on the crossgrain. My wool fabric has those qualities and I must say the off-grain pleats give the skirt a nice swing.

The back (cut as one piece, so no perfectly on-grain pleating there either) has normal pleats, a double at the center and a single one on each side.
I made the skirt a bit longer than most other winter skirts I own, hemming it to a length well past the knee. I'm reading everywhere how midi-skirts are back and, like with my summer dresses, I think the sweep of a full skirt needs a bit of length.

And this, of course, is my first skirt in this fabric. A (also a bit longer) pencil skirt with a double box pleat at the back. I have blogged about it before and you don't really have to make me choose between the two, but it was the one which worked better with my new top. This fabric has been in my stash for years. I bought it quite cheaply, swayed by the sellers claim that it is a silk/viscose mix. It stayed in my stash because of the colour. I like grey, but this blue/grey was really too boring. Until I came up with the option of wearing it with a nice, rich colour like mustard yellow. I'm still not so sure about it, but I think it looks good with this skirt.
The pattern is basically the same as this one, I just made longer sleeves. And I changed the top bit: scoop neckline instead of little standing collar, side seam bust darts instead of tucks at the neckline and instead of that nice keyhole, I made this:

Just to keep the top from being too plain and boring. I made individual facings for each hole and the neckline, which were then joined together with pressed in edges and hand-sewing. They are my favorite feature of this top.

10 comments:

  1. Great skirt en colour! I really love it!

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  2. I really like the pencil skirt it suits the top perfectly and the colour is superb! Fair play

    Folow my blog at Sewing and Style Den

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  3. I vote for the one in the top photo....well done.

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  4. Oh my gosh! That pleated skirt is just beautiful! I absolutely love the design. So gorgeous! You are such a genius and with those shoes no less. That color is to DIE for!

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  5. Wow! You did a great work with both of the skirts, and the color is fabulous!

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  6. I agree the 'curry' colour is nice on you! At least your two same-colour skirts are quite different styles. The front pleats on the first skirt look great!

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  7. I can't choose! They're both gorgeous! The pleats on the top one are incredibly interesting and swishy-fun, but the pencil skirt is so timeless! You look fab in both. That colour is beautiful, which is why I'M currently making a mustard pencil skirt… with a fuschia lining! :)

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  8. I have a thing for pencil skirts right now. So, I'm bias

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  9. Those front pleats are so neat! I also really like the new top, and I agree, the wide sleeves contrast nicely with the pencil skirt. My favourite is probably the gored skirt, however. Gotta make me one of those. :)

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