Works in progress

I have a finished thing! But this is not a review because it's officially just a wearable muslin.

Purple spotty Trifecta Top

This is a wearable muslin of the Kitschy Koo Trifecta Top, which is a raglan top/tee pattern released recently by the pattern maker who made the Lady Skater Dress pattern, which you may remember I made an explosion/floral black/white/red dress from quite successfully. I REALLY don't have any excuse for buying this because I have, conservatively, three million raglan tee patterns between my various magazines and whatnot and really didn't need another. However, the fit I got from the Lady Skater bodice was so good with only minimal adjustment, I decided when the Trifecta Top came out that since her drafting seems to work so well for me it was worth buying (I have her other grown-up sized pattern, which is a princess seamed knit top/tunic/dress, for the same reason).

Despite the appearance in the photo (and why do I never notice when I am taking the photos, only afterwards?) my hem on this tee is actually straight and not wildly asymmetrical, honestly. I used this 1m piece of spotty purple jersey because it's one of my last pieces of cotton jersey with poor recovery, which I've now swore off buying any more of after multiple failures. I sort of expected it to turn out badly, and to have my usual problems with the neckline. Ironically, however, the whole tee turned out really really well -- I got the best neckline finish I've managed in ages, the best coverstitch finish I've managed so far, my very basic adjustments to the bodice worked out perfectly, and in fact, the only thing wrong with this "wearable muslin" is that the sleeves are just a bit too tight so I get a lot of drag marks around the biceps and underarm. Not worse than many a RTW tee I have bought though.  So, it's worked out not so much as a wearable muslin, but a pretty good finished garment.

The reason for making this wearable muslin was because one of my next projects is a knock-off of this INSANELY expensive JCrew top (cost to buy in Euros: €113 + p&p. FOR A LITTLE RAGLAN TOP. OK, admittedly, it's silk and wool, but STILL. €113 + postage? No.) :

Very expensive JCrew top

I wanted a blue and white (rather than ecru) top, so I've bought a really nice white jersey, and then I bought a blue and white print for the front panel. I don't love huge florals so I went with something described by Tissu as a "Japanese Garden" print. Other changes: I don't love horizontal contrast bands across my hips like that, so I am going to have the front panel run to hem length, and I'm going to make the top have elbow length sleeves in order to be more useful to me for immediate spring/summer wear. I just have to work out the best way to adjust the sleeves for additional width and I will be making that forthwith. (I have sort of thought about putting it in for the current PR comp, which is, idk, Bargainista something or other, but I doubt I can be bothered.)

Meanwhile, my other WIP is a purple skirt to go with my surprise!not-muslin purple dotty top. It is my feeble Burda challenge item for April, and I am using Burda 02-2014-109 (mostly -- I am adding some details like the topstitching and belt-loops from the variations on a theme of this skirt that appeared in the same magazine). The big thing here is the fly front. I feel like it's probably useful to do a fly front on a skirt before I try to do a fly front on a pair of trousers, so this is my practice fly front project! The fabric for this is kind of both awesome and not awesome. It's a purple sateen and it's SUCH a great colour, but it wrinkles like CRAZY so I bet it's going to be a pain in the ass when I wear it.

Burda 02-2014-109