OAL2017: Gray Melissa Skirt

Today you get part 2 of my Outfit Along project: my skirt!

After deciding on my sweater pattern, I had to pick what to wear with it (to see Part 1 of this outfit - my sweater - click here). I'm a fairly practical dresser, and while I love the idea of dresses I almost never wear them on a daily basis because of my work. I'm a strictly separates gal everyday, so I decided to make a skirt. After throwing around a few ideas of skirt patterns I had planned, I decided to be boring predictable practical and make a pattern I've made a few times before and love: The Melissa Skirt.

This is the skirt portion of the Melissa Dress by Muse Patterns. I seriously love this pattern, and I've still only ever made the skirt! I have a Blue Jean version and a Basic Brown version of this skirt that I wear ALL.THE.TIME. For real. These are the skirts that I grab when I want to run out quickly or walk the dog or just need to be comfy but not look like a slob. These skirts are the perfect fit, perfect length, and even have the perfect pockets - thus they are worn to death. During Me Made May this year, I decided my old ones are looking a bit ratty (I'm looking at you, light weight denim!), so in a fit of "I can't decide what to make for the Outfit Along" I just grabbed this pattern and decided to kill two birds with one stone and sew up another great neutral version.

Having made this before and perfected the fit, sewing this was a breeze. Also having sewed this in 3 different types of fabric I knew what would work best. My denim version is a bit too light weight for the sea breeze where I live right now, and the green stretch heavy sateen was a very unfortunate disaster (I still lament you, green fabric!), but my brown version is just right. How's that for a Goldilocks statement? The brown fabric was a poly blend of some kind that is heavy enough weight o hold its shape in the wind, but it wasn't rough like a canvas tends to be and it doesn't have the diagonal weave that twill has. Maybe it's a gabardine? I thrifted the fabric, but that stuff is magical. I know it has some poly because it doesn't wrinkle much at all. With all that in mind, I started digging through my stash to try and find something similar to the brown fabric. When I unearthed this gray heavy cotton twill that was just the right length, I knew it was meant to be. I honestly have no idea where this fabric came from, which I very odd for me (I can't remember if I washed my hair or not, but I can remember where I acquired all of my fabric and how much it was - thanks, brain). I'm not sure if I bought it years ago at Hancock Fabrics in hopes of making some other project (as I was prone to do) or if I got it from a thrift store or what. I'm just happy I had it! This fabric is a great weight with just enough body to keep its flare and not blow up in the wind.

As far as fitting, I did the same adjustments that I did on my brown version: I added 1/2" to each side of the pocket panels (so my hands would fit in the pockets without straining the fabric), and I removed a 2.5" deep wedge from the center back. This worked out great and this is the smoothest fit I've ever achieved on the back of this skirt. Since this skirt will be worn a ton and therefore washed a lot, I overcast every seam and then top stitched them down. This really helps in keeping everything tidy inside no matter how much it gets battered in the wash. It definitely takes a lot of thread though.

And finally the aspect that makes this design so great: the pockets! These are seriously the best pockets. These skirts get so many compliments when I wear them and they always refer to the pockets and how cute they are. I can fit my entire phone in them. Or my hand. Or my keys at work. They are a very useful but cute touch and I adore them. I also love that this skirt has a button front, and I lucked out with buttons again as I bought a tube filled with miscellaneous buttons at The Sewing Studio in April for $3 and it had the exact amount in this size. I like the lines across the center - it kid of echos all the top stitching I think. Also this was my first time using the button sewing function on my sewing machine, and man I am hooked! It was so nice not to have to sew these by hand. I'm keeping an eye on them to make sure they stay on, so I will report back on that.

So there's my new Melissa skirt! I'm thrilled to have this in my wardrobe and I know I will get a lot of use out of it (especially as it looks fantastic with my favorite gray embroidered Taos shoes - you can see them in the first photo). Yay for useful basics!

Come see my final piece of the outfit up next!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.75 yards of 50" wide gray cotton twill - $2.00?
Pattern: Melissa Skirt by Muse Patterns
Notions: Pellon SF101 interfacing - $0.75, gray thread - $0.75, 7 gray buttons - $0.25
Time: 5 hours
Total Cost: $ 3.75

OAL2017: Anaheim Wrap Sweater

It's that time again! I just completed my outfit for the Outfit Along 2017! I'm really loving my outfit  as a whole and as individual pieces, so it feels like a successful challenge. Just like last year, I will be blogging each piece separately, so check back over the next week for all 3 pieces. First up: my sweater!

This is the Anaheim by Andi Satterlund - this was her new pattern she released for this challenge. It's a wrap front style with an allover lace design. I was on the fence about the design when I was planning my project, but I decided to just go with it and I'm very happy about that decision. The finished sweater is much more versatile then I originally thought. Since the sweater is the portion of this challenge that takes the most time, I planned and made this piece first. Happily it only took 1 month and that was with mostly only knitting on the weekends.

The sweater is made with Andi's usual top-down in the round construction and with set in sleeves. The sleeves are plain stockinette stitch and a nice airy, loose gauge to keep things from being too hot (a thoughtful detail given the summer style of this sweater in my opinion, but be aware that the gauge is loose).

Gordo bomb! lol my dog really wanted to be a part of this whole picture taking business. The back of the sweater has the same all over lace pattern as the front. As far as lace goes, this is the easiest chart ever and it's very quickly memorized. Normally with Andi's patterns I knit a size Large but increase to an X Large at the waist as well as lengthening for my long torso. In this sweater I was actually able to just keep increasing along the neckline until I got the stitch count of the XL size waist. I have no shaping at the sides - my size worked out so that the lace pattern fit in perfectly, so the design is never interrupted. This extra increasing not only gave me the waist size I needed, it also gave me extra length - problem solved! I will say that while it made the knitting easier, it doesn't really help my figure much to not have any shaping at the sides. I'll still wear it, but this contributes to me not wearing it closed.

Which leads me to another cool aspect of this design - it can be worn 2 ways - there are buttons at the side seams and buttonholes at the points, so you just wrap the sweater over and button it at the sides. But you can also leave it open for a waterfall look.

I had the perfect buttons in my stash! I got an entire tube of these buttons for $2 at The Sewing Studio back in April, and they are the perfect color and size. I love the kind of 80s vibe they have with the triangle holes. I also like the i-cord bind off. I've done i-cord bind of before, but never where it went around the entire sweater before. I seriously thought this binding would never end, but I persevered and I'm glad I did because it's a nice effect.

I've never thought I would like the waterfall style, but I really like the look of this one opened up. To be honest I will probably always wear the cardigan open like this unless I maybe wear it with a dress. Because it sits right at my waist, a lot of my skirts and tops can cause the sweater to bunch up a bit. Also I don't love that the doubled up knitted fabric visually thickens my tummy. I do love the v neckline though. So we'll see how I end up wearing it most.

I guess I should probably talk about my yarn, huh? Whoops. I wanted to work from my (ridiculously large) stash for this project, and I'm happy to say that all the fabric and yarn were stash busts :) The yarn is Bernat Cotton-ish, a cotton/acrylic blend, in the Jade Jersey colorway. The color is a nice teal-y emerald green (it's not quite that teal in real life). I originally bought this to make a different sweater a few years ago, but looking at that pattern now it's not really a style I would wear much so I decided this yarn would work well for this project. It's a DK weight and cotton like the pattern calls for (the original suggested yarn is Knit Pick Cotlin), and after swatching and blocking I decided it would work out. I'm happy I was right (sometimes you never know!). This yarn was nice to work with especially considering how inexpensive it was. I would certainly recommend this yarn if you're looking for cotton DK yarn.

Little side story - usually I take blog photos on my own with a shutter release, but now that my husband is back around he wanted to help me. Both of us out on the porch was just something my dog had to be involved in, and he kept walking over to be in the shot  - which is so odd since he typically hides when we start pointing a camera at him (I think he didn't like that I was getting all my husband's attention). So now blog photos are a family event, lol. He is a pretty cute photo bomber though.

So that's my Anaheim sweater!It's so nice to have have another sweater finished (I was starting to think I wouldn't hit my sweater quota this year compared to the previous few years!), and I really enjoyed this as an easy but not boring knit. I love how it goes with the rest of my outfit, but I also know it will go with other things in my wardrobe. Yay for basic items!

Check back throughout this week to see the deets on the rest of my outfit!

Summary:
Yarn: 3 skeins of Bernat Cotton-ish in Jade Jersey - $9.75
Pattern: Anaheim by Andi Satterlund - $5.40
Notions: 2 buttons - $0.10
Time: 1 month
Total Cost: $15.25

Outfit Along 2017: Planning

Ah, the Outfit Along. I love participating, but I always go through major indecision before hand, lol. This year the sewing pattern is the Kim Dress from By Hand London (which I am not really interested in) and the knitting pattern is the new Anaheim wrap cardigan by Andi Satterlund (which I am slightly interested in, but still on the fence). So not only will I be starting from scratch with my sewing project, I also will have to base my knitting project to go with it and decide a pattern from there.

Since I live in Florida and this is summer, I need my knitting project to be a cardigan of some sort, preferably with some cotton in the yarn for breath-ability. I also want to work from my stash, which can get complicated with the new design as I have very little DK weight in sweater quantities. I only have one yarn option that fits these criteria - Bernat Cotton-ish Vickie Howell in Jade Jersey. I originally bought this yarn for a different sweater pattern, but my feelings about that style are starting to wane so it's back on the table. I swatched this yarn in the needle size recommended for the gauge, and I'm not really thrilled with the result. My yarn seems to be slightly thinner than the Knit Picks Cotlin Andi used because my swatch is very spaced out. I think for the lace section it would be fine, but I don't love the stockinette look that would be the sleeves. I'm contemplating using a worsted weight yarn (in which case I might use Muench String of Pearls in the Grape colorway, but I used the same yarn in a different colorway last year) or maybe even using smaller needles but knitting a larger size than usual. I'm not sold on either choice though.

The other consideration with Anaheim is that it's cute, but I can't decide if it's "me". Realistically I wear most of my cardigans unbuttoned, which drastically changes the look in this design. I think when it's buttoned up it would look best with a dress, but I wear skirts and knit tops almost exclusively these days (they are way more comfy to me). I love my fun dresses I've made, but I just don't wear them much at all (especially now that it's going to be hot for 6 months - quilting cotton is not the most breathable fabric in summer). Unbuttoned Anaheim could go with anything - it just looks much more contemporary, so I would have to figure out what skirt/top combo would work in my decidedly non-modern wardrobe.

The other pattern I'd really like to make is the Vianne cardigan, also by Andi Satterlund. I've had this pattern for a while and have yet to make it up. This sweater puts me in a similar yarn issue though being that it calls for DK weight yarn. This gauge is smaller than the Anaheim though, so maybe I could use the same Bernat Cotton-ish but with a smaller needle for this design? I could also use some Cascade Heritage I have in hot pink but double it up to get gauge (it's fingering weight yarn). I've never doubled up fingering weight, so I'm not sure if that helps in the overall thickness of the sweater, but if it does make it feel thicker then I have the problem of it being a wool yarn :/ So I'm still on the fence there.

I could also go for the Myrna cardigan - a design which I've made before but never wear due to its color and being completely wool (and there for quite warm). I have some more Cascade 220 in Palm green that would be just enough for this sweater, but I feel like I would have the same problem with wearing it being that it's the same type of wool I made it with the first time. I have some Cascade Sierra as well that is mostly cotton, but it's in a coral colorway and I just made a coral colored cardigan last year for the Outfit Along.

As far as the sewing portion, I'm even less decided, lol. I have a few projects I've been meaning to make, so I may go that route and just pair the sweater with them. I've been meaning to try the Lark Tee pattern by Grainline Studio in a black and white striped knit I have (the stripes are much smaller than it shows here, lol). I would make the boat neck and probably 3/4 sleeves (because I love them). For a skirt I've really wanted to make McCall's 7475 - an a-line jean style skirt with a fly front. I like the slash pocket option and knee length, but I'm completely undecided on the fabric. I have lots of cute floral denims in my stash right now that would look really cute in this pattern. I also have just plain denim in various depths of blue. I think the two blue-er denims look better with the black and white stripes, but I'm open.

I also absolutely LOVE my Melissa skirts by Muse Patterns - I wear them so often that they are getting a bit ratty, so I'd love to make another :) I have this cool swirly blue canvas that might be neat, but I also have some nice solids like this black twill.

I also have some dress options should I decide to go that route (too many to put here). Plus there are other top patterns and other skirts. *sigh* So many things I'd like to sew. Hopefully I get a bit more decisive soon and narrow down my plans!

Are you joining the Outfit Along this year?