Now showing...

Thank you for the sunlight Valerie! It got here yesterday and it seems like today is going to be bright as well ;)
Yesterday, I quickly took some pictures of my latest creations to show them. Unfortunately, I was a bit hasty (among other reasons because I didn't know how long the light would last) so I didn't iron the yellow skirt as well as I should have (note too self: the wardrobe is too full if skirts get wrinkled from hanging there...although it doesn't show in these pictures) and I didn't make an effort to coax my too long fringe into anything resembling a decent hair-do and I could have spend some more time trying to pull a nicer face when posing... Oh well, it's the clothes I wanted to show off.

First up: a top and skirt. The skirt is a re-make of a mustard coloured pencil skirt I've made two years ago. The original skirt was the only casualty of the recent moth scare (a tiny hole at the hip. M said I could fix it but in this smooth fabric, I didn't think it would work. And I still had 3 meters of fabric left in my stash) and I have always been a bit self-conscious about just how snug it was at the hip. It work ride up when I walked and not fall down again on its own... Like all my skirts, it was based on a skirt sloper I made with M but it was the only one which really gave me this trouble. It guess it's down to the combination of a classic but somewhat demanding design and a mercyless fabric. Anyway, I made a second straight skirt sloper. This one with a loosely taken hip measurement so the end result would skim my hips, rather than fit them firmly (I kept the old sloper as well, for something like cotton twill, that one is better).

The sweater is very simple, it's my third time using this basic shape. A simple, loose fitting, litterally T-shaped affair. This one has a very simple straight neckline, with one tuck stitched down at center front. The sleeves are as long as I could make them and still cut front and back next to each other and I added long cuffs. 
The fabric is a thin jersey with a fairly fine stripe. It thought it was black and white but on closer inspection, the dark stripes turned out to be dark blue. I bought 'what was left on the roll' very cheaply without knowing the fibre content but after wearing I believe this is wool jersey. Yes!!
The stripes are a bit of a challenge. I spend a lot of time trying to cut the pieces so the stripes would match but it's a very shifty sort of material. Matching didn't work at the sideseams or at the seams of the cuffs. It did sort of work at those long shoulder/upper arm seams which are the most visible. So I'm happy with that. 
I like the vaguely 30's vibe of this top when it's worn tucked in like this.

Then, still procrastinating while I could have been working on E's coat, I made another top. Here, I also used a tried and trusted shape, this one for the third time. Like on the previous one, I cut the back on the fold and made a center front seam. I changed the collar and the placement of the bust dart. Both earlier tops had a long bust dart coming up from the waistline, here I went for another 1950's favorite: a pleat at the neckline. It is usually used with either a cut-up collar (like I did here) or a shawl collar of some sort. 
I like how the top turned out but because of it's colour, a sort of grey-purple, I don't think it will become as much of a wardrobe staple as it predecessors.

And, last but not least, here is my real new skirt:

The design was one of a trio of show-y skirts I sketched at least a month ago. All of those could be made from stash fabrics, so I think you may get to see the others made up in new year. For this one I used some of the 4 meters of mystery fibre (I think wool and polyesther) bright purple crepe. This is the exact same colour and texture I used before for a dress and skirt but this fabric is slightly thinner. 

I used the new 'gently skimming the hips' skirt sloper and altered the front to include tight gathers at the front of the left hip and a wide godet which flares out below those. Of course, both skirts are lined and both are a bit longer than my skirts from previous years. I guess all that deliberation on skirt length got to me in the end... On a skirt like this, I really think you need the length, and the high waistline, to make the design work. This one is 75 cm from waist to hem.  

Now, I really have to get back to cutting the lining for E's coat.