Runway Deconstructed: #ChallengeCreate Destash Entry, Explained
/Time to VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VOTE HERE
*We are the first circle to click in the poll at the bottom of the post (Becca&Suzanne of Pattern Revolution)*
That is right - it is the FINAL week of team Becca & Suzanne competing in the Skirt Fixation Challenge Create: Adult Edition. We hope you have enjoyed following us in this competition - we sure have had fun sewing! (And now, I for one, am ready to not cut an adult sized pattern for quite a while!)
This week is DESTASH Week - I have been destashing all the way along (aside from the stretch jean fabric with I did buy just for week one), which is awesome - but also means you get to the end of the competition and are starting to get down to slim pickings in pieces that are big enough to work. As Becca and I started planning I told her I had enough fabric in black, white, burgundy, and olive green..... she informed me that Black&White are too 'safe', so we settled on burgundy for me to do my coat out of. And I am so happy! This fabric was actually curtain panels given to me by a friend who redecorated a year ago. I heavily adapted the Burda Motto Jacket that I used in week 2 to create a flirty trench. The bias strips are made from a black and white leaf print in my stash.... I liked how on the bias it mimicked the Ikat design of the top - but lets face it, cotton bias is way easier to work with than knit bias!
As Becca went through her fabrics and decided to go with a kelly green, I was stumped - the olive just didn't go with that, what was a girl to do???? Well dye it of course! I only had dark green dye on hand, but I decided that a saturated forest greet was better than the pale olive. This was another set of curtain panels given to me by that same friend. Black tuxedo stripes were added using the left over ribbon from the infamous underwear that went into the dress for refashion week. I used the same fabric from the hat from Vintage week to do the inner waistband and pocket linings. The shorts pattern is the Thurlow Trousers from Sewaholic.
The top was super fun, and pinterest inspired. I used the Penelope Peplum by See Kate Sew as a base, I made it a tank and then adapted the back to get a cross over with the peek a boo triangle in the back. I need to be able to wear a bra, so this fits the bill perfectly while still letting me show a modest amount of skin for summer. The front of the top is this great Black and White Ikat from the Fabric Fairy that I ordered recently in an attempt to 'safely' dip my toe in the tribal trend. The back is a black eyelet that I have had in my stash for a while. Mixing knit and woven fabrics in a knit pattern is always interesting, but with a little tweaking, I think I made it work pretty well ;o)
Ah, Suzanne, totally gorgeous as always!! I'm so grateful to have had you to sew beside, and raise the bar each week! Your awesome jackets inspired me to make my *favorite* piece of this entire competition...
The *Reversible* Bomber! Gosh this thing is awesome! I made it from *two* stash fabrics I've had secured in a special "awaiting the perfect pattern" pile. I had a yard of each, and held my breath the entire time I was laying out the pattern pieces. I had maybe an inch and a half extra leftover from the yard - talk about "cutting" it close (hardy har).
I used this jacket as my base, and made two big adjustments:
- The first was figuring out how to fully line it. In true Burda fashion, the tutorial that came with the pattern was pretty scant. Instead I drew from my Cali Faye crop jacket obsession (ERRRR..knowledge..) and assembled the pattern pieces in like-fashion. I sort of missed the mark on perfectly lining up my prints along the zipper, but as my daddy (and now, I) always say/s "Perfect is the enemy of good". So I won't beat myself up over it ;)
- The second was opting for a reversible separating zipper instead of a dual separating zipper. (I won't bore you with that details behind that though. Just know it was necessary to have a zipper handle on both the inside and outside so I could reverse it at will.)
The circle skirt is pretty basic, so I won't really cover that. I plugged in my measurements here, use a jocole yoga waistband, rolled-hemmed the bottom and called it a day!
The knit blouse is a raglan-style Burda pattern too. I had been hoarding this mint fabric from Girl Charlee's pantone collection ever since Suzanne and I covered this season's colors in our first Runway Deconstructed. It's awesome-ly soft and light weight and perfect for this rouched-bust design.
I did make some "my nursing boobies vanished overnight" adjustments though. I used a larger seam allowance, and ultimately took about 2 inches off the back pattern piece. The wide neckline sits up on my shoulders again, but for some added "I chase and fling babies around all day" insurance, I'm considering threading elastic through the neckline hem to keep it decent. Hopefully I get to that this week, so you can see the modification NEXT WEEK when Suzanne and I do our #ChallengeCreate REMIX, and restyle all our favorite pieces from the contest!
We'll also be answering your questions, so be sure to leave a comment below with your most pressing queries!
Until next week!! **smooches**
