My Christmas outfit

Yes! I know people are forgetting about Christmas by now and moving on and starting on all kind of 2018 challenges on IG 😄, but it's only a few days ago while test-photographing in my storage that I managed to take photos of it. I hope you won't lose interest and bear with me.

There are two parts to this outfit as you can see: a top and a skirt. Let's start with the skirt.

The fabric is my souvenir from my trip to Italy last September. I developed a tradition now and buy some fabric or yarn whenever I visit a new country. It's a beautiful tweed in red and black, a bit thick and pleasantly warm. Initially I bought it with this pattern in mind:

Then I thought this one would work better in it:

But in the end, this skirt won:

Burda Style 12/2011 #105. This is a pattern I wanted to do for ages! I fell in love with the tulip shape with pleats and had it in the back of my head whenever I decided on what to sew. And finally its time has come.

At the same time a lady arranged a sew gathering and posted it on Facebook. I grabbed a friend and decided to go give it a try, worst case, I don't like it and leave politely and took this project with me. It was the best chance to get it done in one go, since I needed it beginning of December for a work Christmas party and the day was fast approaching.

I did manage most of it that one afternoon, I think it was only the inner side of the facings that was left and I finished at home. And apart from the visible invisible zipper (I didn't have the right foot until actual Christmas), this is the only bit I don't like. I went for a machine blind hem but ended up with some twisted bits. I will redo those by hand...one fine day...

The top is actually a refashion project. I had this velvet straight skirt in my teenage years that was very fashionable then, but now, not very.

I cut it up and used a pattern I tried before and liked:

Burda Style 9/2016 #112. You can see my first version of it here if you want. But this time I went one size down, got rid of the ruffle at the chest, got rid of the peplum and compensated by lengthening the pattern pieces. And due to the directionality of the velvet, and the limited amount of it, I could only do short sleeves.

But I also decided to add a twist to this top by making the collar out of lace as well as inserts at the shoulders. The former looked horrible so I just slashed it in the middle front and back and it became a more classic collar. The latter went well and I kept it. The lace was also an item I refashioned, I'll leave that to your imagination 😄.

I wore both happily for my husband's company's Christmas party beginning of December and again for Christmas eve. It turned out pretty well, don't you think?

Skirt:
Pattern: Burda Style 12/2011 #105
Fabric: Wool mix tweed from Bacci Tessuti, Florence, Italy

Top:
Pattern: Burda Style 9/2016 #112
Fabric: Polyester stretch velvet that used to be a skirt from Mexx.

Photos are taken at my fabric storage (and I leave you with a glimpse of it...)