Waldo In Winter

Yeah, I know. I kind of went Sgt Pepper's on these photos. January will do that to me. Lack of light, lack of warmth, lack of photographer. The trifecta. But let's play Where's Waldo and find my garment in this riotous, out of focus, ham handed, amateur photoshopped collage!

Can you find the rectangle of sweater knit above? That's my "self drafted" H&M knockoff, made with some novelty knit. I succumbed to Black Friday and bought a couple of drapey sweaters at The Beast, and upon further perusal, found they were really two large rectangles with two smaller rectangles attached at "midarm" (top corner of the large rectangle) for sleeves. Four rectangles. I CAN DO THAT MATH.

The RTW sweater has ribbing, but my neckline is self faced, hems & such turned under and carefully catchstitched. I went on a catch stitching bender for this January MSN ensemble... it's such a fun stitch. I don't know that it's the right stitch for what I wanted, but fun usually beats out right in my book. 

Oddly enough, the color of the sweater is washed out here. In this field of neon flowers, GO FIGURE.

But the skirt is literally this bright in real life! (I also walk in fields of giant moss under a sun made of godzilla sized petals IRL, it's pretty awesome.)

This super nubbly tweedy tactile boucle was swooped up at Mood Fabrics NY, top floor, during a trip with Devra. We shouldn't be allowed in store together, we enable each other into all sorts of insanity. I obsessed over my yards for several weeks before deciding to give it a try with a virgin pattern, Vogue 8773. No muslin no waiting. Luckily for me & my boucle, an instant TNT pattern! (And it hails from the pattern stash of another homegirl, Clio... HEY LADIES THANKS FOR THE OUTFIT!) 

Let's go find Waldo again! Can you spot the flowers inside my skirt? No, that's not a clone stamped technicolor rose petal, that's some Oscar De La Renta silk organza underlining.

YIKES. I spy some missed stitches on that seam binding! You get the gold if you can spot them...

This louder than life organza gives the skirt a wonderful weight, and helps the loose weave hold the shape of this six paneled pencil skirt. A great anchor for my catchstitching bender, too. Again, since I have no plans to line this, surely not the right finish.

It's a faced hem, I used the selvedge of the boucle. And speaking of misappropriated techniques...

CHECK THAT FRONT SEAM THIGH HIGH SLIT INVISIBLE ZIPPER!

It's held up so far, unlike my non-focusing camera... then again, I didn't drop this skirt on its head. So there's that.

this wintry rainbow was made using my monthly fabric "allowance" as part of the Mood Sewing Network. no fabrics were harmed in the 'shopping of these photos.  some psyches may be harmed by the viewing of them.