Roses are red, violets are blue...

When I think of violets, I think of spring and even though it's really winter, I couldn't resist the call of this fabric. Actually, I'd sort of been planning this outfit since about June, but then I got sick, and we moved, and it just didn't happen. I finally had some time in September to do the shirt and skirt and then made the leggings in November. And of course, I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.

I'd been dying to do the Laguna skirt and leggings by Studio Tantrum. I love Nancy's patterns because they are truly unique. I mean, this is a simple circle skirt but it's made by cutting the circle into spirals and then sewing them together. I don't think I'd be able to come up with something like that in a million years, particularly since it probably requires math and that's really not my strong suit. Anyway, I got the pattern from Banberry Place a while ago and had intended to make it for Maeve but suddenly she grew too big for the pattern. So I left it for a bit and then, this past spring I was going through my fabrics to look for something when I spotted the floral printed poplins next to each other and said to myself, "Hey, those would make a great pairing in a skirt." The Laguna popped into my head and that was it. I wanted to do a shirt with it and knew that Gwyn likes the Farbenmix Antonia quite a bit, but I wasn't sure of the fabrics. Then I got sick, etc. and it got put off.

The fabrics here were all already in my stash, which means I didn't have to buy anything for this particular garment, though I will say that the smaller floral was something that I'd gotten about 5 years ago but didn't have any plans for at the time. The larger floral is a Baby Nay poplin that I got on ebay about 5 years ago, too. I'd already used a good portion of it to make a Farbenmix Sasha dress for Maeve and really had to work hard to squeeze the skirt out of the piece I had left. The waistband is a bit of Stenzo poplin left over from the Delft dresses I made the girls 2 years ago.

I finished the hems with two different colors of ric-rac, which was no mean feat, since I went through 2 packages of each color of rid-rac to do it. I like the effect, though. Of course, I added the label that came with the pattern, because how could I not? Gwyn thought it looked like a mommy owl and her baby, and since she loves owls.... And see the blue flowers? Those are the violets.

On to the shirt - a double-sleeved version of Antonia with the keyhole:

The rose print that makes up the front and back plus the shorter sleeves is a beautiful Stenzo cotton-lycra knit that I got from Yvonne at the now-defunct Bunte Fabrics. Hence the roses in the title. The sleeves are a blue and white gingham-print cotton-lycra knit that I got from The Fabric Fairy during a sale. The neck binding is simply some dark pink ribbing I had on hand.Then, naturally, there are the extras, since this shirt is for Miss Gwyn.

I love freebies, don't you? Well I got the pink decorative elastic as a freebie with a fabric order at some point, and I jumped at the chance to use it on this shirt. The ribbon on the left sleeve came to me as a freebie when I ordered some ribbon from Farbenmix directly. It was basically a leftover from a roll and all I had was enough to use on this sleeve. You can buy it here.

The rest of the left sleeve features a round patch with a rose on it. This one I bought 5 years ago in Germany - it cost me 1 euro, I think, and it goes perfectly with the roses in the ribbon. Finally, the trim at the hem of the long sleeve is a blue and white decorative elastic that was also a freebie.

The right sleeve has the same pink decorative elastic at the short sleeve hem and the same blue at the long sleeve hem. The difference is the red and white dot Farbenmix ribbon and the Farbenmix tag, naturally. Since the weather isn't exactly warm enough to wear the skirt without tights, I also made up a pair of leggings with the Laguna pattern. These are made from a cotton-lycra knit in aqua-blue and raspberry stripe from The Fabric Fairy. I highly recommend this knit - the recovery is great and the fabric is super soft. As a whole, I love this outfit but she can also wear these separately, so that's a bonus. It's currently a favorite in the rotation and she even calls it her "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue outfit".

Cardinal Sin

I should know better. Seriously. I mean, I've been sewing for so long that I should remember that I always need to double-check patterns before I make the actual garment. I mean, it's not hard to make a muslin, right? But I was excited about finally taking time to sew for myself and jumped in feet-first.

So, Colette Patterns Beignet skirt, red wool (a gift from my husband at Christmas) and some diamond-patterned red and grey-blue silk that I dug out of my stash and I was convinced that I'd have a beautiful skirt. I had it all in my head, especially after the button fiasco. How can buttons be a fiasco? Well, apparently finding a dozen buttons at the local JoAnn's is too much to ask. And I dug through my stash of vintage buttons, only to be immediately reminded that I stupidly used a majority of the red ones in a crafty project about 2 decades ago. Which sucks because I had these beautiful red glass buttons that would have been perfect.... but I digress. Anyway, no red buttons here and not enough at JoAnn's, so I resorted to buying some very cool-looking black buttons that have a decidedly Deco vibe to them.

Now that I had all my components I was set and had decided that I needed this to be what I wore for my birthday. And at that point I only had 2 weeks to make it which, while it sounds like plenty of time, is not really enough when I factor in the demands of my family - particularly since everyone got sick right around this time. I'm blaming the not making a muslin on this, since I felt pressed for time, but in reality I was just not thinking.

So I got everything cut out and missed my birthday deadline completely. But I still wanted to finish it while it's still cool enough to wear wool, so I charged ahead. In the process of sewing the skirt - which is always easy with Colette patterns - I found that the fabric I was working with was simply too bulky to press the seams to the side, rather than press them open, particularly at the top edge when joining the skirt body to the facings/lining. I know that some people think that it weakens the seams, but I highly recommend pressing the seams open when using thick fabric.

After attaching the skirt to the lining/facings I tried it on and looked in the mirror and instantly saw the problem - aside from needing to take in the seams a bit all the way around, I realized that the pockets were too low and therefore stuck out like wings from my thighs. Not an attractive look, I assure you. I should have taken the time to shorten the pattern properly prior to cutting out. Consequently it was also too long. Shortening it wasn't going to help this problem at all. So I put it aside to think about how to fix it. I don't want this to end up in the ufo pile. So what to do? I made a muslin, post-haste.

Since I didn't necessarily think that this would be a wearable muslin, I just dug around in my stash and found some navy and white gingham made from some mystery fiber (probably a poly blend of some kind) and some cheap polyester lining in a very pale grey. I didn't even bother to use thread that matched the lining - I just changed the needle to a smaller size and used the same navy thread I was using for the gingham. Also, I eliminated the pockets, since I didn't think this was something that would go into my wardrobe. I ended up shortening the skirt at the line marked on the pattern roughly 2 1/4". Then I sewed the skirt shell and tried it on. It needed taking in all around, so I resewed the seams 1/8" further in. Yes, this means that the seams got taken in 1/4" at each seam, for a total of 1 1/2" . That may seem like a lot but it helped a lot with the shape. In fact, the shape is so good in the back that when I finished the main construction and tried it on again (no buttons or hem yet) my husband commented that it made my bum look good. That, folks, makes it a winner.

So now it needed buttons. A quick search through my stash of blue buttons (yes, I have them sorted in canning jars by color) told me that I didn't have enough in the right size and in the right quantity. A brief stop at JoAnn's revealed a severe shortage of navy buttons so I took what I could get. But I did mention it to the manager - 2 cards of each button type is not adequate for most people. She agreed and said that she was trying to convince her boss that she needed more stock. I felt lucky to walk out of there with 12 of the same button in the right color. So now, the finished product:

It turns out that this is sort of wearable. And I like it. In fact, I like it so much that I decided I had to make a Jasmine blouse in navy lawn with a white tie and cuffs. Yes, the gingham is a little wonky in places but it's not really that bad. The hem was a beast to finish and get right - the gingham really fools the eye. And I hemmed it with a blind catch-stitch, which is easy to do and easy to mess up if you're not careful.