Blushing Rose

Continuing my Velvet Crush series in this new month of December, I thought I'd depart from the autumn colors of my recent outfits.  The forest is still filled with those reds and oranges, but in December our minds and wardrobes are ready to move on from pumpkin spice and all her hues.

When thinking of doing this velvet crush series, I started thinking about what fabrics pair well with velvet.  It's quite a heavy fabric, so  it seemed only natural to use something with a little weight to compliment it.  I was gifted this vintage wool tweed several years ago but had always been too nervous to cut into it.

Seeing that all typed out, saying that I'm nervous to cut into some fabric seems pretty silly.  It's just a piece of fabric!  But I don't like to waste things or needlessly ruin them and I have never worked with wool before so I put off making anything out of it until I saw this top.

I knew this beautiful blush (also known as rose gold) pink would look lovely with a little tweed and burgundy, so I set to work on what turned out to be the smallest piece of wool fabric in my supply, so there was hardly any waste.

I decided to play it safe with this fabric though and used an old familiar skirt pattern, Simplicity Pattern 1369 which I used to sew my very first skirt several years ago.  That skirt was knee length, but this time I decided to opt for the mini skirt version since as I mentioned I didn't have much fabric to work with.

With such thick, heavy fabrics, I think less is more.  A velvet top with lots of ruffles combined with a long wool skirt would just be too bulky and overwhelming.

I know my sewing projects can be a little hard to replicate sometimes, because I tend to go off book and combine things or change things, but this time the only deviation I made from the pattern was to make my own waist band.  The one in the pattern has so many pieces, I worried I wouldn't have enough fabric for them all, so I simply cut a long rectangular strip and folded over.

Truth be told, I cut that waist band a little to small and this skirt fits higher on my waist because of it, but since this is a crop top, the high waist turned out to be perfect for covering my midriff.  

Overall, I like this skirt and the way that it is very full even without a lining or petticoat, but for the rest of my wool fabrics, I will probably hunt for a pattern that is meant for wool fabrics.  That way I know exactly what to expect.  Happy accidents are nice, but I'd just as soon not take any chances.

Shopping Info: Velvet Off-the-Shoulder Top-$14.99 from Forever21, Tights and Heels from ModCloth, Skirt is handmade