Vogue 8634 + glittery skirt = Holiday outfit

Here's the outfit I made to wear to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert we attended on December 22. They play rock music so I wanted something a little edgy but Christmas-y too.

These 2 fabrics were bought independently from each other. The top is made from a cranberry wool knit from Fashion Fabrics Club and the sequined cranberry stretch wool fancy (whatever that means) is from Hancock Fabrics. I have a ton of the wool knit left over and will probably do some sort of skirt with it. They were both easy fabrics to work with and the top was simple enough to be finished in a day or so.

The skirt was a good two week ordeal. I should have just done a simple straight skirt from my TNT straight skirt pattern but no, I seem to like to complicate things. The top was so simple that I thought I needed something with interest for the skirt. I muslined a skirt from Burda but the fit was way off and I didn't feel like doing the necessary alterations to make it work. Then I cut the fabric for a pleated mini using my TNT waistband. Well, the waistband did fit but the pleats did not take to the fabric well. And no, I did not muslin that one first. Then I had to salvage it somehow so used another pattern for a straight skirt that I'd not made previously and had to add 6 darts to the area under the waistband to make it work. The zipper I'd sewn into the center back and foolishly not tried on until after the waistband facing was completely hand sewn in place stuck out at the bottom like a tail, and no amount of fiddling with it could get it to lay smoothly. It was moved to the side seam where it now behaves itself. After all that I chose not to line it and added some wide ribbon to the inside to keep the sequins from scratching my skin/tights and to act as a hemline facing. However, I really should have lined it because the fabric bags out in the bottom when I sit down for 5 minutes. I may or may not fix that little issue but for now it is going in the back of my closet so I don't have to think of what a nightmare it was to sew. It's a good thing I made the top first because otherwise the skirt would have been in the trashcan.

I wore this outfit to the concert (and did not have the shortest skirt there by far) and also for Christmas Eve with my husband's family. They didn't say anything about it so I'm thinking they thought my skirt scandalously short and chose to ignore my festive clothing completely. What do you think - can a 30 something mom of 3 get away with a mini skirt if she's wearing dark tights and boots with it?

I am cleansing my palette from the nightmare skirt with a very fun little lined jacket. It is coming along s-l-o-w-l-y but now that Christmas is over I hope to finish it up quickly. And we are going to see Les Miserables in early January and I was suppose to make an entire outfit for that as well. It's not happening and I've got to figure out something else quickly.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!