my desire to make more separates is fueled entirely by my love for this pattern, which got off to an incredibly inauspicious start when i made my first set in january of this year. i bought the fabric in may 2010 at tissus reine in paris, and cut it out later in the summer of 2010. then i realized that i had forgotten to cut out the sleeves. and that i didn’t have enough fabric. it went straight to the UFO pile for a while after that–abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
finally, about 6 months after my original fabric purchase, the specific colorway of pelagia i was trying to work with became available at B&J in NYC. i was thrilled, but cautious. i only bought half a yard, figuring that would be enough for a sleeve.
i was wrong. i ended up needing to jerry-rig a two-piece sleeve using a tip from the PatternReview 1000 Tips book and some incredibly dubious pattern drafting.
also, i had mono. did i mention that? so it took me about a week, sewing (literally) one seam at a time with hours-long rests in between them…to make the blouse. (the skirt took even longer!) but i finished and found myself in love.
waist gathers = true love
i found myself wearing the ensemble at least once a week, often with a comfy sweater and some great brooches. i determined immediately that i needed more of them (outfits, not brooches). so you can completely understand why it took me almost a year to get to this point:
last night i sewed up half the skirt in less than half an episode of leverage, so clearly it is not a time issue here. in my defense, i tried some new pattern drafting with these new versions–i re-drew the sleeve to have the cuff drafted in. i now have no idea how to assemble it. so i have two complete bodices (including zippers) with no sleeves and no collars.
woe is me.
