Cool Blue and White Work Wardrobe

I am off work during the summer, so this is the perfect time for me to sew what I want to wear to work once school resumes.  I am being optimistic that we will eventually be able to work in a building with other people.  I realize that I am kind of putting the cart ahead of the donkey by making these items when I really am unsure when I will be able to wear them in a work setting.  But, I think the styles and colors will be just as good in 2021 or even 2022, if that's how things turn out.  I just have to make sure that I stay the same size- which is good incentive for me to not snack all day long!  Exercising has not been working out for me- I tore a quad muscle doing yoga at home, and once that healed, I hurt my back gardening.  So, I just decided it was safer to stay inside and sew!  So far, no sewing injuries this summer!  Sewing is my sport of choice and this month was my decathlon.

I was so pleased with the fit from my first two items from the Burda Plus Spring and Summer issue, that I made a goal for myself to sew every design in the issue.  Here's the line drawings from this issue.  You can see that a lot of the items are very basic, so it really is a fantastic issue to make a core wardrobe from.

I ordered this basic white ponte knit from Fabric Mart and I had about 3 yards to work with.   First, I made skirt style #412 - a basic pencil skirt.  The ponte was an absolute dream to work with!  I lined it with a white athletic knit to give it a little more body.  The skirt has a back hem vent, waistband with zipper and button and darts.  It looks just like a pencil skirt, but is way more comfortable because of the ponte.

The top is style 402 using a crepe de chine.    It doesn't have a collar band or sleeve cuffs, compared to a traditional button front shirt, so it is really a quick sew.  It just has four pattern pieces- front, back, sleeve and collar. 

 
I also used the white ponte to make for these jeans, style #414 from the magazine.  I'm not much of a jeans wearer because I don't have the figure type for the jeans to stay up.  But, I've seen something in ready to wear lately, that I decided to copy- 

And that is to put a length of elastic under the waistband, just in the back.  I used what they call a "woven" elastic that doesn't have much stretch.  I bought it at a Tuesday Morning store in their sewing finds section, and when I got home, I was so disappointed because it was so non-stretchy.  I thought "This is the worst elastic ever!".  But now, I see it's usefulness- it really has helped to keep the waistband in the right spot when I'm wearing these pants.  I will look for it again whenever I run out of it.

 Here are the jeans with another top that I made back in 2017.  It was made out of a polyester crepe de chine and is one of my favorites.  More details on it are here.

The zippered jacket is from style 417 and was made from a cobalt blue crinkle double weave suiting.  It has a lot of stretch, and is perfect for this snug style. The color is amazing- very vibrant.  One thing that I discovered when working with this fabric was that I really needed to stabilize the front jacket edges with strips of interfacing, because it would stretch out under the weight of the presser foot.  Other than that, the fabric was easy to work with.

I lined it with a stretch pongee lining in navy.  I always stock up when I see stretch lining in basic colors, because it is a little hard to find.

Here is the jacket with a skirt from the polyester chiffon print.  This is a variation of the style #410 skirt in the magazine, as I didn't want to do all of the elastic shirring in that version.  Instead, I found a remnant of an aqua activewear knit, and made a yoga waistband from it.   This is such a cheater skirt- no zippers, buttons, or facings.   So, if you are ever thinking- "What can I make from chiffon that is easy?", then this is your answer!

This is very simple to do- just cut the waistband whatever length that you need for it to be snug around your waist and whatever width you like- I made mine 12 inches wide by 34 inches long, with the most stretch going in the length direction.  Sew the short sides right sides together, forming a loop.  Fold that loop in half, wrong sides together.  This is now your waistband.  Gather the top of any gathered skirt pattern to a length that is a few inches longer than your hip measurement.  You need it to be wide enough to pull over your hips.   Stretch the yoga waistband to fit the skirt top and pin together.  Sew together, and voila, you have a skirt!

You could just leave it as an a-line skirt, but decided that I wanted some frills.  I cut three layers of ruffles on the bias.  I didn't have quite enough fabric to make it as long as I wanted, so I supplemented with a layer of solid turquoise, which I also used to line the body of the skirt.  Technically, I wouldn't have needed to hem them as they shouldn't unravel on the bias, but I decided to use the narrow hem option on my serger to give the edges a little more definition.

Have you seen Fabric Mart's "Mystery of the Day" fabric?  Well, I couldn't resist a mystery, and this is what I got- a stretch sateen in a blue floral print! Isn't it gorgeous!  I'm afraid I am hooked now on the "Mystery of the Day" fabric.  So, this is the same skirt pattern, in a longer length made up in the floral stretch sateen.  I also had enough sateen to make the jeans in the shorter length (style #415) too! 

I really had a blast sewing all of these items.  I printed out the style photos, put them in 6 x 9 plastic zip bags with the traced pattern pieces, and swatches of the fabrics that I used, just to jog my memory of what I made.  I plan on using these basics again, and this will save me time to not have to retrace everything.

I hope that you are doing well and keeping cool during the heat wave we are having. 

Happy Sewing!

Ann