McCall's 5523 revisited - Purple tweed skirt

Okay, finally, something that's not brown or teal. Remember this sweater completed earlier this month? Well, here's the first of several garments I'm making to match. This pattern was used in September to make another skirt. I ironed out the fit issues with that one, and this time around it went together incredibly fast. Or, fast for me, that is.

This time around I used the pleated lower back. I shortened it by taking length out of the middle section, and not trimming anything off the pleats.

An invisible zipper was used and I added a full lining. This fabric came from JoAnn's Venice collection, recently purchased for 50% off, and is currently on clearance for 70% off(!). There's quite a bit of it here in San Antonio, in case anyone's interested.

Since I lined it, I couldn't decide what to do with the lower section. I just went ahead and put in the pleats like the outside. Both fabrics are pretty thin, so this didn't add any bulk. Someone asked one time why I make my linings so long. The reason is I like it to completely cover any inside raw edges. I do a sit test and make sure nothing is peeking out before it's declared finished.

Up next is a Christmas dress from a pattern that I feel has gotten an unfair bad reputation. Hopefully I'm right and it turns out pretty.

December BWOF picks

Hopefully these posts aren't getting tiresome for y'all. I actually look back at them when I'm trying to remember which magazine a specific design was in. Plus, I always enjoy reading what others like. Mightn't you like to see what I'm interested in?

(Darn, we are back to the super tiny pictures again.) This is jacket 111. Not that I need another jacket pattern to make up, but I really like it. It has a biker/outdoorsy look to it, and the belt on the bottom is really cute.
I like both this skirt 122, and skirt 123, pictured after. I think I'll merge the two together, as I like aspects of both. I'll probably to an in-between length, with the topstitching and fly front of 122, but the plain back and no welt pockets of 123.
(See above for comments on this design.)
***Edited because I just found a black sequined fabric in my stash that would be perfect for this plainer design. So I'll probably use this pattern twice, for both the merged look described above and this one.
I love this blouse, 125, for it's off-set front tie and drop shoulders. I don't so much like the sleeve flounces, but those will be easy enough to leave off.
Dress 128 I find intriguing. I really like it, but the fabric will have to be chiffon or something equally lightweight and flowy, which is not my favorite fabric to sew with. And I'm not sure how well those gored panels will behave; whether I'd have to use french seams to get the fabric to lay flat. The magazine dress is lined with a nude color, which I find fun and flirty.
As I'm always a sucker for a puff sleeve, I think top 129 is really cute. I'll shorten in to end right below a waistband, though.
And that's it, unless I get inspired by one of you fellow Burda lovers (very possible). What do you think? Did I miss any of your favorites?

***Also edited to add that I just found the perfect fabric for design 112 in my stash. It's a white linen-look lightweight fabric with black pinstripes. I think the pinstripes will really play up the front fold, and I'll do the waistband with horizontal stripes. This will have to wait for summer, though.

BWOF 5-2009-102B - Brown brocade jacket

What'cha think? I'm in love with this jacket. It looks very fall and harvest-y to me. I especially liked the buttoning cuffs and interesting welt pockets of this design.

This pattern is top-notch. Everything lined up exactly right and the fit is superb right from the tracing paper. This is why I love BWOF so much; their patterns fit me really well without a lot of headaches.

This fabric is from JoAnn's Monaco collection which I bought online since it sold out quickly at my local store. It's just the right thickness for a jacket, so I left off a lot of the interfacing Burda "suggests". I did interface the center fronts and front/back facings.


These are two-part sleeves with the cuffs lining up with the outside seam.

The full lining is brown Ambiance. I know I've mentioned before, but I love linings. There is no finishing of the seams to be done and just a bit of hand sewing for the bottom and sleeve hems. I'm weird in that I actually enjoy hand sewing, in moderation.

The instructions for these welt pockets were A.W.F.U.L. I must have read over them at least 20 times before I gave up and just did my own thing. I did take pictures of the process and planned to do an online tutorial for it. However, blogger was not my friend yesterday, and after 45 minutes of frustration, I gave up. (I was trying to put the pictures on the left with type on the right. I kept deleting my pictures somehow.) Anyway, if anyone is truly interested in making this jacket and is perplexed about the pockets, I'll go ahead and try to post it again.

I had button issues with this jacket. In order for the button by the welt pocket to not have it's buttonhole sewn too close to the welt, you have to install an inside button and buttonhole. Okay, not a problem. But then when you sew the inside button to the inside and the outside button directly on top of it on the outside, you can't get it buttoned. My solution was to sew the inside one on first very loosely, then wrap the thread around and around, making it elevated and a little floppy. I'm sure there's a name for this technique.

Here's the sad news and why you don't see this jacket paired with any of my other wardrobe garments: it doesn't look good with them. There's too much brown present with all the brown bottoms I made. The tweed skirt does look nice, but I've no shirt to wear peeping out of the top. The jacket has to be worn closed since it's double breasted, and all the tops I made either disappear under it or have sleeves too cumbersome to be comfortable. I love the jacket, but it was the wrong pattern choice to go with everything else. And the wrong color. This just goes to show you can have a lovely array of coordinating fabrics and still not have a cohesive wardrobe.

Do I have time to make another "topper"? No. Even if I had the time I don't know what I could come up with that would pull everything together. I've sewn myself into a corner by picking these colors. I should have chosen several different shades of neutral. Or perhaps a different color scheme with more then two colors in it. Come to think of it, I should have picked one or two knits instead of all fitted garments. Or designs that were more simple then complex. I should have, but I didn't.

The good news is that with the exception of this skirt, I really love all the garments I made. So many of them do coordinate with each other. And while I'm tired of brown and teal at the moment, I know I'll like it again soon and they'll get lots of use.