Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt CLOSED!!!!

This design was modeled after a skirt and plaid shirt I saw on Makool. I liked it on an adult but I thought it would be cute on my five year old daughter, Lily.

With school starting and the leaves starting to change I wanted to sew something that could be worn with a sweater or nothing at all. I thought this little outfit reminded me of Indian Summer because it was both cool and school at the same time.

Brian said I should have named this the "Peggy" Shirt and Skirt since, on the dress form, it looked like something Peggy Olson from Madmen would wear.

The skirt is made from linen. It has four pleats in the front and one large tie in the middle. The back has a 6" band of elastic so that it can be worn for a couple years. I made this skirt and documented the pattern which for me is SOO hard and makes the process seem so much longer and tedious. But what's nice is that, in the end, you can make it again without much trouble. The only thing I'd change if I remade this skirt would be to add side pockets in the side seams. I think that would look cute.

The shirt was made from a fabric I bought at Warm Biscuit. I searched high and lo for a purple and green plaid fabric. Of course, when I have something that specific in mind it's no where to be found.

I was lucky to find this. As you know, I hate paying for shipping but this fabric was exactly what I was looking for so I bit the bullet and bought it and I'm really pleased with my purchase. It was EXACTLY what I needed.

For the shirt, I also created a pattern as I went. Surprisingly it wasn't as hard as the skirt. Sometimes things just work out that way. If there was one thing I would change about the shirt it would be to add a side front pocket. What is it with me and pockets?

As you can see I added a ruffled collar that extends to the sides of the front. I rolled up the sleeves and buttoned them to the top of the shoulders, military style, with a cuff holder. I added small plum colored buttons on the front. Originally I had really HUGE plum colored ones but that looked really wrong. In the end, I think these worked better.

Whenever I make a buttoned down shirt I dread DREAD the thought sewing buttonholes. For the longest time I couldn't find my buttonhole foot. And to make matters worse, I couldn't remember how to use it.

A couple weeks ago I came across a bag of attachments that I had thought were gone for good. In it was MY BUTTONHOLE FOOT! Hooray! Now to figure out how to use it. Thank god for the internet, what did we ever do without it? After reading a simple tutorial, I was sewing perfect button holes in minutes. It was beyond easy. There's something so satisfying about sewing a perfect button hole. I very nearly enjoyed it....very nearly.

I bought the shiny plum colored ballet flat shoes at Goodwill for a buck. The socks came from L.L.Bean in a neat little knee-high pack of three.

As you can see below I finally broke down and bought a child jersey pinnable dress form and I am so much better for it. I no longer have to ask Lily to try on a shirt with pins sticking out. And it looks so professional. I really love it. This particular one has shoulders and about an inch of arm which works really well when measuring sleeves. I'd love to get an adult sized one. I currently have an adult sized adjustable dress form that's great for measuring but not for displaying. I love these mahogany topped jersey forms on ebay.

Lily loved this shoot as she got the chance to ride her bike on a nice warm day. The past few have been really ugly. Wet, cold and gray. So today was really fitting for this outfit.

Although I don't think it's technically an Indian summer for the fact that we haven't had a frost.....and it's still the real summer:)

As for me, I was beyond pooped when we got home. We really didn't walk very far but the squatting and standing and lack of bottled water took its toll on me.

I got home flopped on the sofa without even considering to take the tricycle out of my front seat. It's still there. It will be there until I give birth. I'm going to go ahead and blame the pregnancy and not my lack of fitness:)

I also want to mention that this next coming month will be October. And with October comes Halloween and with Halloween comes COSTUMES!

I have been planning a few things and hope to start off with a BANG beginning next month. So look for some costumes to win for your little ones.

I spent all of yesterday looking at photos and making lists and buying material. Now comes the hard part....starting. That's where I hit a roadblock. It's the hardest thing for me to start a project from scratch. There's just so much work involved it seems so futile.