Instant Gratification Project & SSJ Saga

OK, well not quite an instant project, but pretty fast for me. I decided against a jersey dress in the end and instead made something I can wear with the SSJ. Radical idea hey!? One of the cotton prints I bought recently at Spotlight matches the jacket perfectly and I decided I wanted to make a simple a line skirt. I probably could have drafted one myself, but I went through my folder of BWOF line drawings and found this pattern - BWOF 03/2008-105.
There is very little to say about it that you can't see from the photos and line drawing. It is super easy and the fact that it has a faced waistband, centre back zip, back darts and side front panels makes it really easy to fit too. It could have gone horribly wrong - I looked at the instructions after cutting out and saw that it is for stretch fabrics, but it worked out fine with no stretch. I will definitely be making this one again and the pattern will work for summer and winter fabrics. Theres also scope for adding piping, topstitching and different belt details. The magazine photo is not desperately exciting and even Burda, not known for their restrained vocabulary basically says it is a boring pattern ("The cut of this skirt is rather unspectacular..........."), but it's a great basic.

For this version I added a China silk lining as the fashion fabric is a bit see through. I bought a gold ring fastening in a local market to use on the belt feature. The pattern has you add buttons to hold the folded back ends of the belt in place, but I just topstitched, hopefully the ring will survive in the washing machine. The pattern has pockets in the front panel seams but I left these off on the basis that I don't need them.

So in case anyone is hanging on waiting for the SSJ Great Pocket Decision here is what I decided to do. Firstly, taking photos was hugely beneficial, I think it helps you to view the garment more objectively. When I looked at the photos I decided that it did need some pockets. Thank you to everyone who commented although I think I had a vote for every option! That is the wonderful thing about sewing, we can all have unique pieces exactly the way we want them.

Anyway then I had my second radical idea of the week - thinking about what I would actually wear with this jacket (a-line skirts and my TNT pants mostly). After lots of trying on and pinning various hem and pocket combinations I decided to significantly shorten the jacket and omit the pockets. I think it looks really cute and this shape will work better with the garments I'm planning on wearing it with.  Still finishing it off, stay tuned for the next post.