Return to work wardrobe in ITY – which is your favorite?

In June of this year, after spending nearly 11 years at my place of employment and after restructuring and cost cutting, I took a separation package. I was so fortunate to be able to take a few months off, and also to very quickly find a position with a new company. I start my new job on September 14th and I’m super excited! 

This new position is also different for me in that it is local to my area (whereas before I worked remotely and traveled to the office every few weeks) – so I’ll be going into the office three times a week. So of course I needed to sew up some new outfits! I’m a huge fan of ITY knit fabric; ITY stands for interlock twist yarn, which describes the way the yarn is knitted together. I love it for tops, dresses, skirts, and even pants: it’s comfortable, easy care, low wrinkle, and comes in so many beautiful prints. I sewed up three new outfits over the last two weeks and I’m excited to share them with you today!

Oh, and also – I need help choosing what to wear first. So let’s have a look and then maybe you can drop me a comment and vote for your favorite outfit!

First up – I sewed up a dress in this amazingly gorgeous print. I used the Pattern Emporium Go-to Fit & Flare Dress pattern, which is my primary go-to for new dresses. For me, the fit is perfect with no adjustments, it’s very figure flattering and forgiving, and a quick sew. Check out this gorgeous fabric!

I just love the ombre effect in the fabric design, and as well, it has a really cool raised squishy print. I had to be careful with the iron and only press the wrong side of the fabric (ask me how I learned that…). 

You can’t see it in the photos, but to make the hem thread blend well, I alternated between hemming with black and white thread. I think I changed the spool four times but it was worth it for the nice finish. I made one change from the standard pattern for this dress – I used the flounce sleeves from the PE Besties Tee, which are interchangeable with this pattern. These are one of my favorite sleeve designs across all my patterns.

OK, next up – I sewed up a coordinating top and pants set. For the top, I used the Pattern Emporium Bestie Tee pattern (same one I used for the flounce above). This pattern has a ton of options so I use it for a lot of my tops. I did the high square bound neckline, 3/4 length sleeves, and hemmed bottom. ITY is such a great fabric for this pattern – I think it gives the tops a dressier than a tee shirt look. I love this organic stripe design but thought it would be a bit too much in a dress, so went the top route. 

The bound square neckline is a favorite of mine – and it’s really easy to sew because it is slightly rounded at the corners, so no complicated finishes required. Here’s a closeup:

For the pants, I used the Apostrophe Patterns My Fit Jogger pattern generator. If you’ve read my blog posts here before, you may have seen a few other versions of this pattern. It’s not a static design – it’s basically a pattern calculator where you input all your measurements and then you can generate endless designs. For these pants, I did a yoga waist and flared leg. I love how they came out, but black is so hard to photograph. Hopefully you can see the nice silhouette of the fit:

And finally, I sewed up a new and very fun skirt! I call this fabric the “post-it note” fabric. I think it will be good fun to wear it to a workshop - the kind where you have poster boards up and you have to add sticky notes to them. Whimsical corporate wear, right?? I used the skirt part of the dress pattern I used earlier, which also comes with multiple waistbands so you can make standalone skirts. I paired this with an older top in my closet that I made many years ago using the Sonia Estep Designs Brooklyn top. 

How fun is this print??

OK, so here’s where I need your help! Do you have a favorite of these three new outfits? Does one strike you as a good “first day of work even if I’m just sitting in orientation all day” outfit? I have a favorite but I don’t want to give it away. I would love to hear from you in the comments! What’s your vote? 😊

Happy Sewing!

Andrea | @happy.things.here