Another Kirsten Kimono Tee and NEWLOOK 6192 Skirt

A new top and skirt.

The top:
What should've been a 30 minute-from-the-time-you-cut-your-fabric-to-finished-top took me going on 3 days to make!  And the reason why you may ask?  My slubby knit fabric was so slubby, the 'slubs' were see-through.  So not me.  But perseverance prevailed and I hung in there and finally! completed this top and it's ready for public wearing.  Having made the Kirsten Kimono Tee 2 times before, it is clearly one of my favorites.  The free pattern from Maria Denmark can be found here.

This top was made from my modified pattern flaring a small at the top to a medium at the bottom and (this time) cutting the neckline in @ 3/8" to make it not quite so wide.

From the time I saw this fabric on the remnant table at Hancock's, I loved it.... it's color as well as its slubbiness and knew it would be my next Kirsten Kimono Tee. I just didn't expect the slubbiness to be so see-through until I tried on the top to check the fit before putting on the neckline and hemming the sleeves and hem.   Agonized for a little while on how high on the unacceptable list it was and decided I could not wear it that way and thought a lining would work.  That way I would not have to add the neckline and let the lining act also as a facing.  Spurred on by this most brilliant idea it soon became clear there was not enough fabric to cut on the right stretch grain, as this fabric only stretches one-way, so lost a bunch of time agonizing whether it would wear correctly cutting it off-grain.  All I could do, was cut it off-grain and see.  You can see in the photo below my vertical 'lining' slubs versus the horizontal fashion fabric slubs.  What I found is that when I first put it on, it feels a little snug, but after wearing it for a bit, it feels fine.  Also, as you can see in the photos, for the most part it doesn't 'look' too snug.  I also only hemmed the fashion fabric and not the lining - yet.  Right now it seems to work.

Had to really wrap my brain around lining this simple top as I'd sewn the lining to the neckline first, and had to work from there.  Simply used both fabrics as one to turn in the sleeves and topstitch.  No top-stitching at the neckline.

Hard to see in this photo below, but used a simple zig-zag for the bottom hem and I really like it.  In the past I've used a straight-stitch on knit and as we all know that stitch does not 'stretch' and this works so much better and I really like the way it looks.

View from the back.

The skirt:
This skirt was made from another favorite pattern I've already made a gazillion times before, okay only 2, well, maybe 3 counting one for my daugher  :),  NEWLOOK 6192, view B. 

For this skirt I used a polyester-ish fabric that sort of looks like linen from my thrift store treasure box,  and used the entire process as a skill-builder. At first I wasn't sure I really cared for this skirt, as the fabric finished with a 'stiffer' flared look than I wanted.  But with a more form-fitting top, it looks okay, I think.

Using every single scrap of fabric available, I even pieced the skirt casing on the diagonal to have enough.  Somehow that made me feel good.  Creamy white is hard to photograph, so the arrows point to the diagonal seams below.  I even centered them.

First time ever using my cool little binding-making tool to make the binding to attach to the bottom of the skirt to then.....

....blind-hem stitch the skirt's hem.  Hard to see in the photo below, but the blind-hem really turned out 'blind'.....

.....and again, even though this is an elastic-waist skirt, I lined it so no slip is needed.  Love that!

I am happy with my new outfit and feel my skills and thought process was stretched and improved with these two 'simple' pieces.

Happy Sewing All!