BurdaStyle 04/2011 - 124 Skirt & Style Arc Madeleine Top

Thanks all for the comments on my sequin top, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and that you are ready to see what 2017 brings.  I am loving reading all the 2016 recaps, not sure yet if I will get around to it, I still have things that I haven't blogged yet so I will get going on those first....

Not very sensibly, I decided in the week before Christmas that I wanted a new outfit to wear on the day, but at least I was sensible enough to use straightforward patterns I had made before which cut down on tracing, cutting and fitting time.



The skirt is BurdaStyle 04/2011-124 (previously made as a modified version in green eyelet here).  This time I kept all the seams in the skirt, the only change being to shift the zip from the side back to the side for no other reason than I didn't read the instructions!

I used this floral fabric, something like a jacquard or matelasse, it's quite stiff which works well for a party skirt to give it some structure and I love the dark, moody, oil painting-like quality of the flowers.

Reverse side of fabric showing the texture

Side zip, you can also just see the fabric texture here too

The top is Style Arc's Madeleine Ponte top.  I first made this (here)in a medium weight polyester knit really as a test version so the insides were unfinished and I really rushed it.  I ended up wearing that top until the fabric pilled like mad so a remake or two are long overdue.  This version is much more successful, mostly due to fabric choice - I guess it is called the Madeleine Ponte top for a reason!

I made a size 10 and nipped it in a bit at the waist.  Having made this before, I knew I could get away without the zip so left that off and eliminated the vertical centre back seam also.  The front band does still need to be secured in a few places on the front to keep it in place even in the recommended fabric; I just stitched in the ditch of the seam in a few places.  

I do think this would be easy enough to extend to a sheath dress and I might give that a whirl especially as I now have a healthy (or perhaps that should be unhealthy!) stack of ponte knits.

 

Here I am wearing the pieces together - despite the lack of planning and time spent on the outfit, it really was perfect for the day and it's a combination I will definitely be using again.

I think the print is quite wintery even though it is floral so I tried the skirt with boots and a jacket too for a slightly more dressed down look and to prove that this skirt needn't be just for Christmas!