I started a dress - I finished a skirt

Last weekend I started on my next project for The Monthly Stitch, a vintage pattern. I have a 70s pattern for a knit dress that seems very promising on the envelope. I also had this fabric from my latest fabric binge. I thought they would be a perfect match. In my opinion they still are. My sewing skills are just not good enough when it comes to knits. A lot of changes and tweaking is going to be necessary on this one... I hope I can get it right before Summer 2014.

All this got me in a negative sewing-mojo-spiral, so I decided to abandon this project and start on a new. A rebound-project if you will.

In red, because I would say any rebound is worthy of that colour.

I wanted a pencil skirt like Rachel Zane wears all the time in Suits. For those of you drooling over the amazing dresses in Mad Men, you should really check out Suits! They have fabulousness draped all over their bodies but very contemporary, honestly, they have dresses I would actually commit several crimes for. The costume designer shops at Prada, Burberry, Victoria Beckham, Boss, Prada, Donna Karan, Dior and the list goes on and on. One of the Donna Karan dresses featured on the show can be yours, if you buy lovely red fabric, this pattern and invest a good amount of time in stitching it together. If I had an occasion to wear it to, I would...Could I get away with wearing this around the house?

Jessica Pearson in a stunning red Donna Karan dress

Check out this site for more goodies!

For my skirt, I used this pattern. The reason I bought it is because there are a few variations, including one with gathers, which I am so going to make one day soon.

I made a muslin first, because I bought my pattern in the small sizes when actually I needed the big sizes. Blame it on my vanity. In the end I added 6 cm to the back (3 cm on both center back panels) and did no other alterations. I think it would be nice if it was a bit rounder in the butt-area, but I'll leave it as is, because those side panels are topstitched and the stitches sink to deep for easy unpicking. Next time...

I cut the long version, so I could decide what I wanted later on, but went for the shorter version anyway. Dress your age and all that crap.

I have always wanted a high-waist skirt and this is just perfect. I love the fact that there is no waistband and thanks to the side panels there are NO darts. I actually prefer princess seams because if I can avoid darts, I will, I hate sewing darts.

There was a Lamborghini in the street and my nerd husband insisted on taking a picture with it...

I inserted a lapped zipper! I learned to do that from the free Craftsy class Zipper Techniques. I love free classes!

Don't worry, I did have fun!

It's not as pencilly as I would like, but still, it looks great. I will be wearing this A LOT this winter. Just not with my Watson-cape, ´cause those two fabrics would look like a devil's spawn together...

So, did you ever abandon a project that was getting you down to get a quick win? And what 'architectural' dress would you sew if time, money, occasion to wear and difficulty were no objection?