Alabama Chanin Skirt

I'm a long-time member of the Alabama Chanin cult. I own all of Natalie Chanin's books, use her recommended laundry detergent, and would basically stick a hot poker in my eye if she told me to.

Thankfully she's a rational person. I met her at workshop at Fancy Tiger Crafts in March. I felt all the hashtags: #blessed, #inspired, #authentic. Seriously, it really was wonderful and worth every penny. If you ever have the opportunity to take a workshop with her, do it. Her Craftsy classes have good reviews too.

On to the skirt! The workshop fee included a kit with pre-stenciled, pre-cut fabric as well as five spools of thread and fold-over elastic. I chose a large out of fear and the waistband sits around my hips.

Work bathroom. I tried not to get the toilet in the shot. #keepingitklassy

All in all it took 2 months to sew and then an additional 2 months to blog. Stitching around the patterns was meditative and relaxing; cutting out the shapes was stressful until I found a groove. Miraculously I didn't cut into my background fabric. I sewed the side seams on my machine and then felled them by hand. It's tough to get even stitches when sewing through six layers of jersey, so now I'm even more in awe of the AC trunk show garments I tried on at the workshop.

A corset, size XL. Id raise the neckline a tiny bit.
Also: bathroom at actual FANCY TIGER CRAFTS!

Factory Dress, size XL and cut much more generously than the  corset.
I'd go down a size. 

There are definitely more of these projects in my future. My husband bought me an airbrush for my last birthday (he gets me) and I have a muslin in progress.

Alberta Street Skirt

Pockets!!!!

Every so often, I shed my post-apocalyptic-Junior-League togs for date night.

I made Sew House Seven's Alberta Street Pencil Skirt with dates in mind (my office doesn't allow denim). The directions are incredibly clear and thorough. Based on the finished garment measurements I sewed a size 12. The pattern envelope suggests picking the size based on your body measurements, and tells you not to worry about the negative ease because of stretch fabric's girdling properties. But I chickened out. (The fabric is a deep indigo denim from Robert Kaufman.)

Before installing the waist facing I tried it on and marked the areas to take in. It measured 1/4" on each side: the difference between a 10 and a 12. D'oh! So now I have a size 10 skirt with size 12 pockets. Barely noticeable, but still....maybe follow directions.

Presto-Chango!

No but seriously Muffy. 

Happy Me-Made May, peeps!

It's a dress! Or is it.....

Readers, it's actually a skirt and top combo! My recent Jalie 2806 paired with view E of Jalie 2681, the eight-gored skirt, in the same calligraphic print. (Or Cali-graphic. Nothing but straight fire on this blog.)

 I'd still like to add an actual dress to my wardrobe, though.

In other news, the teen wore a t-shirt that I made! On her body, in public:

When your kid has a nicer phone than you do, with a better camera.
I'll catch up next month.