"Make It Work!" Sunday

Happy Easter Everyone!

Yes, I did wear the suit to church today. I finished it enough to "make it work" and wearable, but it wasn't finished with all the detailing that I wanted. In my opinion, the jacket needs another 3-4 hours of effort before it is "perfect"!

I decided to go with the top and skirt instead of the dress after making my daughter's skirt ~ thinking that it would be quicker and I would end up with more versatile pieces...I think I sewed them so quickly that I am not happy with the final outcome. There is still some more work to be done to all of the pieces to bring them up to the level I desire.

I guess I should have cried "uncle" but I R-E-A-L-L-Y wanted to wear the suit today! *LOL* Okay, so let's start with a picture...then I will tell you everything that isn't finished or went wrong and what I'm going to do about it!

First the jacket:

1. Needs covered buttons and covered snaps added to the jacket fronts so that the jacket will close. I decided to leave these off about 10:00 pm last night.

2. Needs sleeve linings. Those sleeves only have organza in them but no sleeve linings. I jettisoned that part about 1:00 am this morning. So I will remove the hand stitching at the hem and add the sleeves by machine stitching them to the hem and then hand stitching into the jacket lining. Since I never took my jacket off, no one noticed.

The top:

I originally had a bowtie on the top. Yes, took all the time necessary to cut, stitch and add a bow-tie to the Sewing Workshop Mission Tank. The idea worked but the top looked horrible with the jacket. So then I had to remove the bowtie, however, the neckline was a little wonky due to way I cut it to add the tie. I wore it with the wonky neckline today but I will have to fix it. I think I'm going to add some pleats to the top front and a bias binding to the neckline so that it will stop slipping off my shoulders and down into the jacket sleeves.

The skirt:

It will never be worn with this jacket again. I wanted a sleeker look but started to panic at 8:30 pm last night when I realized that I hadn't started a bottom piece yet. I quickly constructed a TNT 4-gore skirt and wore it this morning. However, I don't really like this combo so I will NEVER wear the two pieces together again. I have a vanilla medium weight silk twill that will make a wonderful straight skirt for this outfit. I will use that, take my time and make a well-fitted, lined straight skirt that will add some ooommph to this outfit.

All in all I met my goal but if I was graded on my sewing techniques I would probably get a C+. On Project Runway I would not be eliminated but I wouldn't have won the challenge either. Though I don't think Jesus cared much...I mean I was clean, clothed and attended service with a pure heart so I guess that's what mattered most! *LOL*

Once the corrections are made to the pieces, I will give a full review of the process because I did do some interesting things during construction. And the jacket does have some great details that I would like to share.

On the PR reviews, one of the final questions is, "Would you make this garment again?" And my answer is I honestly don't know! I think the deadline definitely affected so much of the process, and the best thing I re-learned from this...Don't sew on a deadline because you just don't do your best work! *LOL*

Finally, one shot of the family ~ my daughters, my sister & my niece and nephew:

I hope you had a wonderful day with your family too!