The Emma Outfit

It's done! This is the outfit inspired by one of my favorite TV characters: Emma Pillsbury of Glee. As you may recall, I wrote about my quest to recreate a particular outfit of hers here.

Here's the inspiration:

And the Gertie-fied version.

Not bad, eh? Guys, I love this outfit. (Not to toot my own horn.) The blouse was made from a 1960 pattern and the skirt is BurdaStyle's Jenny (which I've made before in black with suspenders). If I had to live with only one skirt pattern for the rest of my life, it would be this one. No joke. To get the bow version, I made the waistband a little narrower (so it came to 2" wide, to be exact). The bow pattern was easy enough to make - it's just two rectangles.

The fabric I used is the "Fancy Italian RPL" from Gorgeous Fabrics. Oh, how I love this fabric. It has a sort of crepe-like texture to it, and it's both comfy and flattering. I lined the skirt in Ambiance rayon lining, and I cut it on the bias. I read that this can be helpful if your garment fabric has some stretch to it, but it really just made the lining very hard to work with. I don't think I'll be doing that again. If you want your lining to stretch, it's easier just to buy a stretch lining, in my opinion.

Here's the lining. I stitched some lace to the bottom for extra prettiness. It's like a creamsicle!

The blouse was made from this lovely pattern, McCalls 5226.

It was kind of hard to fit, but it turned out well in the end . . . aside from the fact that the bust darts are a smidge too high. (Yes, I should have made a muslin!) I actually lined the blouse too, since the rayon I used was a little on the sheer side. I used a rayon lining matched to my skin tone, and followed these excellent instructions for quick-lining. I love how professional it looks to attach the lining to the facing. It became a sort of underlining/lining hybrid since I stitched the sleeve hems to the lining.

I love the look on my face here in this next shot. Yeah, I'm wearing an orange skirt with a bow on it. Wanna make somethin' of it?

And here you can see the skirt length better.

That's it, folks! I've also made another blouse and skirt in the meantime (both 40s-styled) which I suppose I'll photograph next weekend. (It's so hard to photograph anything during the workweek!) This week, it's back to the grind on my the background dress - with muslin number two!

Sencha + Jenny = True Love Forever

Ah, love. We already know that pencil skirts and blouses go together like peanut butter and jelly. Throw in some suspenders and a Peter Pan collar and that's a recipe for awesomeness, in my opinion.

This skirt is BurdaStyle's Jenny skirt, and I spent a lot of time fitting it - to my actual measurements, no less! I started by cutting a 44 in the hips and a 42 in the waist, and ended up taking it in more in the waist and upper hip. (Yeah, okay, I'm a pear. FINE.) I like my skirts below the knee, and I had to add an extra three inches to this pattern to get it there. (Seriously, skirts are getting shorter every day, aren't they?!) I also changed the waistband layout. The pattern had it cut on the bias, and then stretched to fit the skirt pieces. I didn't really like the idea of having to stretch out the fabric to get it to fit, so I cut it on the straight grain instead. This meant that the waistband needed to be just a little bigger, since it wouldn't be stretched on the bias. So I made sure that the seams lined up as I was checking the pattern. Anyway, I'm so pleased with the fit of the skirt and I know I'll be making this pattern again and again. One of my favorite things about it is that it tapers in at the knee, creating a super curvy silhouette.

The fabric I used is a black cotton stretch sateen, and I lined it with a hot pink stretch poly lining fabric.

The blouse, made from Colette Pattern's Sencha, is in a rayon polka dot print. I drafted the Peter Pan collar myself. Tutorial is on its way!

I crossed the skirt suspenders in the back for extra cuteness (and so they'd stay up).

Suspenders are handy for tucking your thumbs into. Also: behold my lime green pumps! (I finally got Jeff to understand the importance of getting the shoes in the pictures.)

Anyway, I give both these patterns a big thumbs up! If you're looking for basic retro-style separates that you can personalize, these definitely fit the bill.