Plaid Cape and Corduroy Skirt - M5913 & S5259

     Back before Christmas I decided that I needed a cape.  I had been seeing them all over the place and decided to sew one.  I began to look for cape patterns, but the only ones I kept finding were way too blousy and too much material for my taste.  I was walking through my local fabric store one day and spotted M 5913--it was perfect.

I made View C because I just love the belt.  The shape of this cape pattern reminded me of one that I had fallen in love with a few months back: a plaid anthropologie "capelet" (as they called it).  I was inspired to make something similar.

anthropologie capelet

I had some wool flannel plaid fabric in my stash that I had bought the previous year from fabric.com that  I had planned on making a skirt with, but it cried out to be a cape instead. I sewed my usual size and did not have to make any alterations.  The cape is unlined and I left it that way, serging the seams instead. I followed the instructions and it did not take long at all.  The green buttons purchased from my local fabric store. (Pics follow at the end of post.)

     After finishing the cape, it needed a skirt to go with it.  I had my heart set on using some hunter green corduroy that had been in my stash for several years (or so I thought).  When I went to search for my corduroy fabric, I could not find it anywhere.  I turned my sewing room upside down looking for it.  After all the looking, I remembered I had used it the year before to make a pair of pants that turned out to be a wadder.  I swore off sewing pants after that, but I am about to try again--stay tuned for that.  Well, after that  fruitless search for stash fabric that no longer existed, I went back to my local fabric shop and purchased some hunter green corduroy.  I made my TNT pencil skirt pattern, S5259-View D,  that I have used twice before (mentioned in my previous post).  I lined it with some polyester lining fabric. 

I have worn this outfit once to church and once to work.  Please forgive my horrible hair in these pictures.  It was early in the morning when I put on the cape, and apparently I never rebrushed my hair before taking the picture.  Gee, I hope I did before I went out the door.  

Getting this cape on is a little bit of a task as there are no sleeves, and apparently my hair suffered the consequences.  I made sure the next time I wore it to look in the mirror before leaving the house.

Turtleneck sweater:  Peebles

Burnt orange tights:  Kohls

Poetic Licence "Backlash" Oxfords:  Gift

S5259 - Rose Velveteen Skirt

A few weeks ago I came across this gorgeous Anna Maria Horner velveteen print on fabric.com.  I debated over whether to buy it and held off.  A couple of weeks later, fabric.com had a big sale and somehow it found its way into my cart (even though it wasn't on sale--I did have a coupon code)

I think it is absolutely gorgeous.  The lighter color in the skirt is actually a very pretty light blue.  I decided that it should be a pencil skirt.  I wanted something simple so that the fabric could be the focus.  I used S5259 View D., which is quickly becoming my TNT pencil skirt pattern.  I have used it twice before: once  for this skirt. and for one I will blog about in the near future.I am also planning to use it again on a future project.

I lined the skirt with some basic polyester lining that I had in my stash.  The thing I like about this pencil skirt pattern is that is is truly a pencil skirt in that it tapers in at the bottom, and I do not have to do any alterations to it.  I cut my size and it fits--that is always a rare and nice occurrence for a pattern.  It was very quick and easy to sew up--I did it in a few hours, record timing for me.  

Charcoal sweater:  Thrifted

Belt : Forever 21

Shoes:  Sears

Light BlueNecklace: NY& Co

Gray hose:  JCPenney

Until next time, Happy Sewing!!!

Black Pleated Pleather Skirt - BWOF 2-2007-110

I have recently become a pinterest addict and saw this leather pleated skirt one day while I was surfing around.

Inspiration Skirt

I knew immediately it would be my second leather project after my pink leather skirt.  I decided this time to use some faux leather instead, mainly because I did not want to spend the money for the amount of leather it would take to make this skirt. I bought some black pleather from MJTrends.  I decided that since this was only my second time sewing "leather" I did want to tackle as many pleats as my inspiration skirt has.  I looked through some of my old Burda magazines and found BWOF 2-2007-110 (the skirt pic below)

BWOF 2-2007-110

I sewed it straight from the instructions without any alterations except for omitting the belt loops and belt.  The skirt has a half lining which I made out of some navy blue polyester lining fabric.  I used a size 14 microtex needle for sewing and used scotch tape on the bottom of my sewing foot to imitate a teflon foot. I did manage to get up the courage to topstitch the pleats part of the way down.  I had gained a little more courage since my previous leather project., but still not enough to do the invisible zipper the pattern called for.  I did an exposed zipper instead.

I am very pleased with how this turned out.   I wasn't sure how I wanted to wear it, but I found great inspiration from Erica.  I have really been enjoying her fashion posts and this one gave me great inspiration.
After seeing her polka dot blouse, I remembered I had one in my closet that I bought at Walmart several years ago.

front

shoes:  Payless (knock offs of Christian Louboutin Helmut)

back

I had the most trouble keeping my shirt tucked in

Until next time, Happy Sewing!!