Sew Chaotically! - Striped skirt and top - McCall's 6754

Here's the inspiration:

You go, Mimi G! mimigstyle.com - DIY striped two piece and top pattern review

To be made from a lovely blue and white stripe, light weight knit that Ruthie gifted me in my amazing birthday stash!!!  I'll start with the skirt.....I checked out the way Mimi G made her elastic waist skirt and it seemed okay.  But, it was just a rectangle with elastic....as was the one I made here.... from V9166.

Then I found this:  The 30 minute easy skirt pattern from: So Sew Easy!!!  It's great because...

She shows you how to curve in for YOUR hips and waist with a ratio that works just for you!  You can download the pattern or just follow her instructions.  I had only one little hiccup...  The material seemed a bit light weight for a skirt.  I had already cut out the top...and had plenty of material....sooooo...I carefully folded the material on itself...taking care to align the stripes since you could see through and let the folded bottom be the 'hem' and cut my pieces from that!  Unconventional, perhaps...but...I think it worked!!!

There's the finished skirt...and top in progress.  The hardest part of the top was cutting it out!!!  I referenced these two sites for help:
sewaholic.net - how to match prints along seams
mimigstyle.com - tipsy tuesday: match perfect stripes
Neither were a perfect explanation for the particular pattern at hand as I was making chevron patterns with the stripes...but I did use Mimi G's tip of cutting it out one layer at a time.  What a pain in the patoot!!!  Still, probably the best way in the end.  I realized once I had it together, that my center chevron is the opposite of Mimi's and the pattern...but to each his own, right????  The pattern went together very well, there were only two slightly tricky points.  This pattern (since then I've run across a couple of others) was sized small, medium and large...or some such....with a couple of sizes lumped into each category.  I usually make a 12 which was combined with the 14.  I figured it would be a bit big...but I went with it knowing I'd rather take it in than cut the pattern pieces wrong.  I made the princess seams as directed...but did end up taking more out of the center front seam so that the princess seams hit the bust where they should.  Then, I considered taking more from the sides but ended up doing this to the back.....

That's quite a bit, huh?  And no...there is NO way in this WORLD to match the side seams...that I could find!!!  That's what arms are for!!!

I think it turned out ok!!!  The only other issue was the sleeves.  Mimi G had actually reviewed this pattern twice.  In her first review she noted that the sleeves were so large that she "pinched out two inches of ease" but didn't say how or where.  In her next review she said she made no modifications.  Anyhow, the sleeves were easy enough.  You make a dart in the top of them, sew them together and place them in the bodice you have made and they create your shoulder and sleeve all at the same time.  That was all great.  The problem was that then they were rather large and flappy around your arm.  Hmmmm....so, I did this:

Creating a dart at the bottom of the sleeve in line with the one at the top.  Problem solved.  I applied knit stay tape to the entire neckline, peplum and sleeves and used a double needle to make the hem all round.

I'm rather tickled with how both pieces turned out and think they'll be good for many roles in my wardrobe.  Not sure I will rock it out like Mimi G...but here you go.....

Hey....if you go to the trouble to make them....you might as well play with your clothes!

Play chaotically!!!  Thanks for the fabric, Ruthie!  And thanks, B...for playing with me.  

 

Love, c