Self-Stitched September Run Down

I realized as September progressed that I totally failed in doing daily, or even weekly posts about my outfits for Self-Stitched September.  It seemed to be all I could manage to post daily pictures to the Flickr group.  The nice thing is that, now, I at least have all the pictures and I can do a little run down in retrospect.  Here's part 1, in no particular order.

The month started off warm in Mississippi.  A local re-sale shop had it's grand opening and I was thrilled to find a Liberty of London by Target shirt for $6.  I didn't even try it on.  This is certainly a perk of knowing how to sew.  I was completely confident that, at $6, I could make it work, whatever the fit issues.  I had been kicking myself for missing the chance to buy some of this line new (I had no appreciation for Liberty of London at the time of the Target release), but this is even better.  Fortunately for me, all I had to do was take in the side seams and this blouse was good to go.  I am looking very forward to wearing this next Spring!

I have had 1 yard of this Patty Young knit for quite a while.  My original thought was to make an elastic waist skirt, but boy am I happy I had the sudden inspiration to buy Simplicity 2560 and make a cardigan!  I laid out all the pattern pieces before cutting because I wasn't sure I had enough, but I made it work with some creative cutting.  This gets the prize for most worn and also for most surprising coordinating piece.  I had a lot more in my wardrobe that works with this than I thought I would.

This outfit gets the prize for most comfortable while still looking dressy... unless you look closely.  These green knit ruffles area  refashion and my first try at big ruffles for myself.  I wasn't ready to pay $60 for a pair of Matilda Jane ruffles at the time, so I altered a pair of thrifted extremely-wide-leg knit pants.  I hadn't ever found a good mate for them until I tried them with my new navy knit McCalls 6203.  I haven't yet reviewed this pattern because I don't have any quality shots of either shirt I've made from it.  Maybe one day...  Suffice it to say that it's pretty basic, no baffling parts, but I would definitely like an alternative way to finish the neck.  I'm not really pleased with the droopyness and I saw others complaining of the same issue on reviews.

Here's your most basic of alterations.  It took five minutes.  I put one single line of shirring (is it shirring if it's only one line?) right under the bust line.  This shirt is an unusual purchase for me because I paid full price from Target and then altered it.  I don't usually pay full price for something if it doesn't fit really nicely.  This shirt wasn't flattering whatsoever with no shape around the bust (even though it had darts, but you wouldn't know it).  I fell totally in love with the crosshatch fabric and the color and the tie collar and had to have it.  I really, really enjoy wearing it now and, even though I had to put a little time into it, I think it was worth full price.

I wore it mostly with my clearance rack Target cardi.

And here is my Lisette Traveler dress in chambray.  On one hand, I think the length is very flattering and I love the dress shirt type hemline.  On the other hand, it's way too short to wear without thick tights or leggings underneath.  On the other hand, I guess it's a good thing colored tights and leggings are in.  This is only the second time I've worn this dress even though I made it months ago.  I wore it to church and felt like it was doing funny things all that morning.  I felt the same way when I wore it again the day of this picture.  It pulls to the right for some strange reason.  I cannot for the life of me figure out what would make something do that.  When I walk a few steps in it and then look in the mirror, the button placket is pulled diagonally to the right at the bottom.  Weird.  But I think it needs a few more chances before I relegate it to the "rarely worn" part of the closet.

And the prize for taking the most bravery to wear goes to these pants.  I was fortunate enough to procure three yards of this fabric for $6 or $7 a yard (I can't remember).  This stuff sells for upwards of $20 a yard online because it is so rare.  All of a sudden, after the rejoicing ended, the fear of cutting set in and the temptation to stick it safely in some dark drawer became strong.  I try my best not to do that though, because what good is an amazing fabric if it can't be enjoyed??  So I had this amazing Amy Butler fabric to use and a great responsibility to use it in an amazing way.  

So, I decided to go with a category of clothing I'd never made before and not use a pattern.  Smart, huh?

I made a deal with myself that if I tried pants and they didn't look good enough to wear out in public that they would just become my favorite pj pants.  I used a pair of wide-leg Anthropologie pants I owned as the pattern and went to cutting before I got too scared.  A few hours later, I had a very comfortable pair of pants that fit surprisingly well.... but looked to me like they were straight from the 70's and looked to my husband like they were straight from the Orient.

I wore it as pajama pants once and asked for feedback from all my Self-Stitched September buddies to know whether or not they should see the light of day.  They got a great reception both on Flickr and Facebook, so I finally got brave at the end of the month and gave it a go.

And got a compliment while I was out!  

More thought's on SSS '11 in another post to come.