Elisalex Skirt

This past Saturday, Matthew and I attended a wedding of one of my friends. I first met her about 9 years ago when I worked at Welch Allyn for about six months. We have stayed in contact since then and I'm glad that I moved back in time to come to her wedding!

When I sew, I mostly sew things that are useful to wear and that I will wear a lot, cake as some people say. I don't really sew a lot of "frosting", but I think a wedding is one of those times when you can make some super dressy and fun. I used the skirt portion of the Elisalex dress and used a super shiny curtain I bought from the thrift store last year. I still have three panels left of these curtains and I don't know how many more shiny green garments I need in my closet! I procrastinated the sewing of this dress until the week of the wedding, so I decided to just use the skirt portion of the pattern because I just needed to fit my waist and I didn't want to mess with fitting the bodice on my body.

From September 24, 2014

I traced out the pattern pieces for the skirt, held them up my waist, and laughed. The drafted pattern piece reached to about mid calf on me and I knew that was a first class ticket to Frumpsville. I originally cut off 9 inches from the pattern piece before I cut out my fabric and before I hemmed the bottom, I cut/hemmed off an additional 4 inches. No Frumpsville here.

From September 24, 2014

My curtains were lined with a white cotton fabric and I used that as my lining. I cut the lining with the same pattern pieces as the skirt. I thought about drafting a waist band, but decided to just join the lining and front fabric at the top. I understitched the lining to the fashion fabric seam allowance to keep it from peaking out. I cut the skirt in size US 4/ UK 8 and it fit my 26" waist snuggly, but not uncomfortably. I did not decrease the tulip shape at all as I have seen other people do, I think it looks fine as is. With the shorter skirt length, I think the poofy-ness is a nice proportion. I installed an 8 inch invisible zipper at the back of the skirt.

From September 24, 2014

I made the scarf I am wearing from a piece of polyester chiffon fabric. I originally intended for that fabric to be used as an overblouse thing to wear over camisoles, but it is so damn shifty! Cutting it out was a nightmare, trying to get the seams to line up/sew up was a nightmare. Nightmare all around. I don't think I am ready for the shifty chiffon world and I can see why people on Project Runway get dinged for using it when they don't know how to handle it. Instead of a shirt, I cut out a rectangle and hemmed up the edges with my narrow hem foot, leaving the selvedge edge free. I love the colours on it - they go with everything in my colour palette! And as a person who is not a big fan of prints, this is very abstract and pretty. I love it and got a lot of compliments on it when I wore it to a job interview.

From September 24, 2014

I'm laughing in all these photos because Matthew's face was hilariously scrunched as he was trying to see the screen in the afternoon light.

I'm not sure where else I can wear this skirt, but it was fun to make up. I'm not a big dress fan, so I don't think I will be making it up as a dress. It is just a bit too frilly for me. The skirt is almost too frilly for me as it is.