Circle Skirt - Completed!

Yay! My circle skirt (and first piece for the Colette Fall Palette Challenge) is finished!

Because of the wedding (and planning, and honeymoon), I started the skirt pretty late in the sew-along, and the only reason I was able to finish in time for the party was that the timeline got pushed back a bit. Some things are just meant to be. :)

One of those things was apparently not in-seam pockets. I stitched the side-seams together, realized I'd forgotten to insert pockets, picked the seams apart, and then proceeded to stich them together again the next day (without pockets). At that point, I just decided that this skirt was not destined to have pockets.

I used some more fabric from my sheet dress to make bias tape (my first time!) to finish the seams, and I'm so excited about how it turned out. So pretty.

I forgot to finish the raw edges of the patch before I stitched on the waistband, so I ended up pulling a few threads attaching the waistband close to the zipper and finishing it, then re-attaching those inches of waistband. :) Silly mistake, but it's all right now.

I didn't have the time to add the pleated strip at the bottom, but I'll be doing that early next week. Hopefully more pictures to follow, and another project soon!

Lessons in Creativity

Lesson of the day: When having an inspiration block about an outfit, just talk to Mom.

I'm working on my Circle Skirt Sew-along skirt, and I'm happy with how it's coming along, but I've been having trouble with thinking of a way to make it into moe than just another blue skirt. I told my mom I'd been thinking about doing little pintucks at the bottom, but that obviously wouldn't work (or would be more trouble than it's worth), since the hem is a circle and pintucks are sort of straight. :) She suggested making a long bias strip and pleating it, then sewing that to the bottom, because a pleat cut on the bias would move with the shape of the hem. Genius, I tell you. I looked for a picture of what I have in mind when I got home, but I couldn't find anything quite like it. I guess that means it's pretty original. Or maybe I just need to think of better search criteria. Either way, the closest I could come was this pink top I found on Pinterest.

I think I'll only use one row of pleats instead of several, and I'll probably put it about an inch or half inch above the hem. I'm also not sure if I'll go with really loose pleats like these or more crisp pleats. I guess I'll just see what works, yeah?

Circle Skirt Sew-along and Fall Palette Challenge

Casey, of Casey's Elegant Musings, is hosting a circle skirt sew-along on her beautiful blog (not sure how I feel about that alliteration...it's almost too much!), and I've decided to join in. So excited!

I also saw that Colette Patterns is doing a 10-week Fall Palette Challenge on their blog, and I'm really interested in doing that as well. I totally missed the Spring Palette Challenge. I wasn't really reading sewing blogs yet. But now...so excited!!

I'm thinking navy, gray, pink, white, and red.

I have a lot of gray in my wardrobe already (especially gray skirts!), but I'm putting it in here because I want everything I stitch up to go with all that gray. I'm thining two navy skirts, one the circle skirt from Casey's sew-along and one pencil skirt or maybe the Colette Ginger. A pretty white blouse, a pink blouse, and a red dress. I want everything to be wearable throughout the winter as well, so I'll probably look for some lightweight wool for the dress and/or one of the skirts. So excited!

If you're wondering, no, I haven't forgotten about the sheet dress. I ripped out all the seams of the bodice, cut all the new pieces, and started stitching them back together again. I should have it ready for the zipper tonight, and hopefully finished by the end of the week, so I can wear it this weekend. *crosses fingers*