This ensemble is more of my stash sewn up.  It makes me feel good making up what I already have in store instead of buying yet more.  It’s nice to have a library of fabrics from which to choose, but at some point it begins to feel burdensome.  These couple of projects lightened my mental load a bit.  Does that happen to you, too?  I don’t like it when fabric starts staring at me askance when I walk into my sewing area.

Anyways, both these fabrics are from the fabulous EmmaOneSock. The lime green skirt is a cotton blend stretch denim. I used Burda 06/2006 #137 again, since it fits so well and I’m loving it these days. I left off the pockets on this version and the Team Portugal one.  And I cut the CF panel on a fold this time around. The only other adjustments made were lowering the front waist by 1.5cm and grading down a size through the back waist. I have another version of this skirt pattern planned, which will hopefully get sewn before the end of summer. But now, the top.

I made mine of a feather printed rayon/lycra jersey.  I really liked the sleeve detail, but this top has proved to be a little problematic.  I cut a straight size 44 (my upper chest measurements dictate this in Burda sizing), and did a 5cm short-waist adjustment by folding out 5cm across the waistline.  I found the instructions simple and easy to follow.  The markings on the pattern made the overlapping of the sleeves at the shoulders simple to find.  The neck binding is wide – about 2cm – and I cut it about 5cm shorter than Burda suggested, and I’m glad I did.  I also raised the CF neckline by about 2cm.  I’m at the age of being over showing a bit of bra when I bend over.

I made a deep 4cm deep hem instead of the 1.5cm one suggested by Burda.   And the bottom of the top was HUGE.  I ended up folding out 4cm on each side seam and stitching them up into an inverted box pleat about 6cm deep at the side seams.  Did you read that?!  A total of 8cm extra in width at the bottom of this garment.  I was surprised, because I usually need to grade up a size over my hips.

And let’s talk about these lovely bat sleeves, OK?  They were the selling point in this pattern for me, and I really do like them.

Quite the bat’s wings happening. Burda also refers to the top as a “cape sleeve top”.  Definitely!  And they are a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen.  If the camera was at the right angle while I was standing with my hands on my hips, you could see all you wanted to see – and probably more.

Hmmm…..  Moving on! How to correct this?  After playing around with pinning the sleeve hemlines in various places, I decided to stitch them down to 10cm from the neckline, creating a dropped shoulder effect.  It keeps the overlaps in place and there’s not a chance of flashing anyone.

I may make this up as a dress.  I’ll still make my short-waist adjustment, but I’ll experiment with making it under the bust instead of at the waistline to see if eliminates the need for stitching those shoulders down.