Made By A Fabricista: PINK

Hi!

Hope all is well!  There use to be a time when I always made sure to have a few suits on hand for interviews, meetings, or work presentations.  Somewhere along the line I stopped buying suits and started wearing more "career separates".  In other words less matchy-matchy 2-piece suits, and more blazers that could be worn with any coordinating skirt or pair of pants.  I never cared for wearing my 2-piece suits as separates.  I felt that if you wore one item more than the other, then that item would appear faded compared to the other piece from getting washed or dry cleaned more often. Career separates allowed me to mix and match my wardrobe without that worry.

Lately, I have become obsessed with menswear looks for women and matchy-matchy pant suits in prints and bright bold colors again.  When I saw this bold pink poly/lycra suiting, I figured it would be a good time to get going on making a few suits.  So let’s get into this month’s DIY look!  

A pants suit...

...And a shorts suit!

(Disclaimer: I have to take my suit to the dry cleaners to be pressed.  I could not press this as nicely as I wanted with my iron, so please have mercy on my pressing job.)

I used Vogue V8958 View D to make the blazer and McCall’s M7098 View C and E to make the pants and the shorts.  

Anytime I go thrift shopping, I always make sure to look for sewing books (and vintage sewing machines and tools).  I find many of my books at a thrift store called “Savers”.  I am building a nice little sewing reference library from thrifting alone.  The books are old school, which I love, and full of solid sewing foundations.  They cost $3.49 or less!  While constructing the jacket, I pulled out one of the books I found.  It’s called “Sewing Express” by Nancy Zieman.  I wanted to see what new tips I could try.  I ended up implementing some of the tips for interfacing.   

I really like this fabric, it has a nice amount of stretch.  It is lightweight, so it is perfect for making a summer suit.  The color is described as watermelon pink and there is a small amount of this fabric left (click here).  This fabric also seems similar (click here).

This blazer has center seam pockets and I really like the length of the jacket.  

The shape of the lapels are so gorgeous and really the star of this blazer.

I think the pattern design for the bottoms is really cool.  I love the center seam that runs along the front and back of the shorts and pants.  For the pants, I cut off 2 inches of the length and then hemmed them at an inch and a quarter.  I wanted them to hit near my ankle.  I hemmed the shorts at an inch and a quarter per the pattern.  I used a big gold button instead of an hook and eye on both.  

I used pink stretch pongee lining for the jacket and added a little bias tape along the waistband facing for the bottoms.  I didn’t have the exact closure that I wanted to use on hand, so at this time I did not add one.  I don’t know the correct term for the closure I want, but it is similar to a men’s tie tack.  I will probably end up making my own.  I am going to redo my hems.  I had to get outside and take photos before I lost the daylight, so I hemmed my bottoms with a regular stitch.  I am going to go back and do a blind stitch on these before I take them to get pressed.  

There is a pleat in the center back of the lining, but it is still basted together in this picture.  I always forget to open up my pleats!  In this photo, you may be able to see that I added shoulder pads.  My shoulders are very sloped, so the shoulder pads add a better shape for me.

That's all I have for this month!  Really excited about what's coming up for May!  Until then, be safe!

Yours truly, Tee

Maggie Elaine (blog)