Personal Style and a Few (er...several...) Sketches

I took a four-day weekend last weekend, because A is back in the country. I did not take any sewing with me to Illinois, so I have nothing to show for my long weekend but a big smile and a lot of joy that my partner is back in the country. I spent yesterday evening grocery shopping and cleaning the house up a bit (things I usually do on Saturdays).

I've been thinking a lot about my personal style lately. When I was younger, I liked full, gathered skirts and tight t-shirts/tanks. It was a super cute look. Looking at that style now, I feel like I've grown out of cute, but I'm not sure where to go from there. I bought a gorgeous leather trench while I was in Chicago over the weekend, and I absolutely adore it. It looks even better in person than it does in that photo, and it's edgy in a way that's not too extreme for daily wear. It's downright hot, and I feel so incredibly good when I put it on. I think it's time to take a good, hard look at the few items that are still in my closet and ask myself whether or not they make me feel like that, and if so, what about them does it.

I went virtual shopping - where I skim around the internet and save photos of clothes I want to my computer - and found a few things I liked. Before I put the effort into trying to replicate them, though, I decided to sketch them out on my croquis. Did I tell you guys I made one of these? It was a few months back, and I've sketched a few things on it, but I thought I'd share my latest sketches.

Knit top with lace/mesh panel and sleeves and leather skirt. In spite of the more fitted silhouette of this skirt, it's still reminiscent of my old clothing formula.

Full dress with leather belt and leather detail. I usually don't like any gathering around my waistline, but this one might be okay. Also, my shoulders are way more symmetrical than that back view would have you believe. My tracing skills just sometimes aren't up to par. :)

I found this adorable draped top, and I sketched it out with a pencil skirt on the bottom, and oh, man. Badness. That drapy hem hits right at the widest part of my hip, and it looks downright dowdy. Now, if you shorten it and tuck it into a pencil skirt, it looks way better. Or lengthen it and turn it into a dress. I love the draping and the shoulder detail, though!

Then I started thinking about my SWAP items and things I actually intend to sew. Why not see whether they'd actually look any good on me, before I started cutting and sewing? These are Butterick 2434 (vintage) and Simplicity 2145. I'm loving that Simplicity dress. Loving.

I went a little sketch-happy and did a few more. Like, almost all of my other SWAP items. Simplicity 3562 (vintage), Colette Jasmine, Burda/Gertie bombshell top, Simplicity 3520 (vintage), and Butterick 4042 (vintage, and also sheer...you can see the bombshell top sketched lightly underneath if you look closely).

What do you think? Have you jumped on the croquis bandwagon? It's definitely worth the time it takes to make one. I could have endless amounts of fun just sketching up ideas. But I'm not going to. I'm going to sew tonight instead. :) Perhaps I'll have something fun to show you next week!