Skip to main content

Made By A Fabricista: Wintry Chic in Wool

Hello, all! Here we find ourselves in the midst of winter and it’s still chilly, but most of the festivities are over. I feel all the doldrums this time of year and mostly wind up wearing shapeless sweats much of the time, but I’d like to shake that off and aim for something much more stylish. I suppose we could file this measure under dopamine dressing, too. Hard to not step a little lighter in pretty clothes!

I planned this outfit idea around a wool skirt. This design is luxurious, classic, and so easy to wear, and I chose a medium-weight wool suiting fabric in a tiny houndstooth to attempt to make it more transeasonal. I love a good larger plaid, but that pattern type definitely screams fall and winter to me, and I’m thinking this would be equally snappy worn with a graphic tee and some clogs for spring. 


The threads are mostly black and cream, but the design is so tiny that this skirt really reads gray, and I love this more muted appearance; it’s really neutral and pairs with so much. For the skirt, I chose the wrong side to be the outside. The wrong side is more of a black and ivory micro-stripe, while the right side is a gray and black micro-houndstooth. Both sides are smooth and easily used as the right side, so go with what you feel works best!

This pattern is the Encore Skirt from Love Notions, which was released fairly recently, and I used the midi A-line option since I wanted a flare, but not one as large as the Full option. And the pockets! So big and useful, and I love how they are cleverly folded in the design. There is a zipper closure and interfaced waistband that sits at the natural waist, although you could easily grade up a size to adjust for it to sit lower. 


Now, the scarf had to happen once I came across this beautiful deep plaid. This is a very soft wool and nylon blend. I had originally been mulling over making one in jersey fabric, but I couldn’t decide on a color and then the record needle screeched when I saw this garnet and gray combo! So very beautiful and I love the gentle plaid-on-plaid combo with the skirt. 

To sew the scarf, I just cut my fabric in half, right along the center fold perpendicular to the selvedge edges, and then sewed those right sides together while matching the plaid. Then I folded the whole long rectangle right sides together and stitched all around the edges, leaving a space to pull it through to the right side, and also adding in some cotton lace that’s been languishing in my stash for years to finish the short ends. Ta-da! 

The knit top is a beautiful modal/spandex blend with a fantastic striped texture. I wanted something a little more on the slim fitted side since this skirt is so high-waisted. This shirt is another Love Notions pattern, the Rockford Raglan. I used View D which is the more fitted and sweatshirt style, with bands and cuffs, but I omitted them both for a more simple streamlined (and less bulky for tucking) hemmed finish. 


I love the way the raised stripes meet at the shoulder seams. I’m always on the lookout for a solid color fabric that boasts interesting texture which adds a touch of oomph to a simple piece. 


Unexpected bonus top! Because the wool yardage is so wide, I was able to fit a tee out of the leftovers. This woven shirt is a severely hacked Hey June Key Largo Top, and it’s the smallest, slimmest woven tee I have found and I love that there are no bust darts, which makes this a very quick sew. For kicks, I used the houndstoothier side of the fabric as the right side, and this adds a teeny bit of contrast. This wool is so smooth, there’s nothing itchy at all about this shirt. 




How’d I do? This to me is a much more upscale look, and will help get me out of my boring sweatsuit cycle. 

Happy sewing!

KATIE  @kak513


Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: KNITS, WOOL, & SUITING.

Comments

  1. Beautiful outfit. Great use of color and texture. I love that you worked hard not to waste fabric and created that cute shirt out of the wrong side of the skirt fabric. People will be scratching their heads trying to figure out where you got that outfit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I will happily tell them my secrets!

      Delete
  2. Beautiful, Katie! I love all your pieces!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cute outfit. A skirt always looks dressed up no matter how comfortable it is. I am working on a basic black half circle skirt about the same length as yours. I hope it serves the same purpose.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Your skirt sounds like a classic, I'm sure it will serve you well.

      Delete
  4. You did very well! I love texture in neutrals too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for the inspiration! I love wool basics for winter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love to use both sides of a textured fabric! Your outfit is awesome! And I would never have known that was the Rockford.So practical and creative.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Liberty Snow Day

Hi everyone! While we’ve been blanketed with snow out here in Southeastern PA, I decided to conquer my fear of button holes and make NewLook pattern N6749. I was able to snag a few yards of the Jess + Jean print Liberty of London Tana Lawn for it. It’s always exciting when Fabric Mart is able to get Liberty fabrics in! I always make sure to grab some.  Cutting into a beautiful piece of tana lawn is scary every time. The fabric is such good quality, I’m afraid to mess it up! I had to be extra careful as this is also the first directional pattern I’ve worked with. But one of my assistants made sure all of my pieces were laid correctly. Something I wanted to try out with this dress was finishing the inside seams using the overlock stitch on my domestic machine. Normally I would french seam, but it was nice to not have to worry about cutting seam allowance in half, sewing, trimming, flipping, and sewing again. Next time I would cut the seam allowance back before overlocking, but I thin...

Made By A Fabricista: Embracing Winter in Wool Boucle

As winter drags on, the cold weather is such a bummer to me and feeling uncomfortable and cold so often is rough. Meanwhile, I listened to a podcast all about how people in very northern countries deal better with the onset of dark, freezing winter with a radically different mindset of embracing the inevitable season by reframing the chill as refreshing and the opportunity to spend most time indoors as cozy. I can do that!  I found a gorgeous, quintessential wool boucle suiting in black and white to make myself a luxurious outer layer while I’m outside attempting to embrace the sting of dry winter air… It’s kind of working. So classic, so chic! Wearing boucle is always an uptown move and I certainly do feel sophisticated in it. This black and white houndstooth combination feels especially Old Hollywood, and what a treat to make something with this!  I sewed the Daphne Jacket from Vivian Shao Chen. There are no closures, and the shape is boxy and very easy to wear over multipl...

Made By A Fabricista: Sewing + Running

It’s not every day that I get to mix two of my favorite hobbies. Especially when one hobby is sewing and the other is running. You can’t sew and run at the same time, but, you can go running in something that you sewed! With this realization, I embarked on my first hobby-merging adventure.  We’ve had some frigid temperatures in Pennsylvania this winter. Since I’m an outside, stroller-pushing runner, I bundle up my son and myself before I hit the road. The temperature feels 20 degrees warmer for outside runners than the outside air. For the children being pushed in the stroller though, it feels about 20 degrees colder.  With these differences in temperature for each of us, layering is the only thing that ensures that we both stay perfectly warm. My running wardrobe has been lacking a warm top layer. My son’s wardrobe would also benefit from having another warm layer, so I knew pullovers were what I should make.  Inspired by a name-brand ¼ button-down fleece pullover I saw,...