The holiday parties are a great excuse to get dressed up, however, sometimes you want to dress up and still be comfy.
With both style and comfort in mind, I came up with a perfect pairing the Chesnut Sweater and a classic circle skirt.
Champagne and Pearl Chestnut Sweater
Earlier this month I posted about my Coco Wawa Crafts Chestnut Sweater make, in which I made toile out of some fun sweatshirt material and the final version in a lovely champagne colored fabric with pearl dots.
When I first stumbled upon this polyester fabric at the antique store I knew immediately that I wanted to make a chestnut sweater out of it. It was the perfect color for autumn and the fun dots gave it a bit of whimsy.
The Chestnut Sweater, especially in this print, has a bit of a classy dressed up look while still retaining it’s casual feel.
Simplicity 8446 Vintage Circle Skirt
After making the Chestnut Sweater I found that I had still quite a bit of this lovely fabric left over. Enough in fact to make a circle skirt.
While the Chestnut Sweater is to pair with a basic skirt or even a pair of jeans, I knew that pairing it with a lovely circle skirt would give it the look of a more formal holiday dress.
For the circle skirt, I decided to use Simplicity 8446 a vintage reproduction of the classic circle skirt. Granted I probably could have done the math and cut the pieces out on my own, I figured since I recently got the pattern I go for it. (Plus this way it counts as another Vintage Pledge make).
The construction of this skirt is really straightforward and I really like the addition of the pockets.
Since the fabric is a polyester it really doesn’t fray, but I decided to go ahead and finish my seams my serger, mostly because I wanted the practice.
I also practiced my rolled hem feature on the serger, because hemming a circle skirt can be a pain.
| Sewing Summary | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Nov 22 |  |
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| Pattern: | Simplicity 8446 | |||||
| Version: | B | |||||
| Size: | Size 24 | |||||
| Notes & Modification: | Included an elastic waistband | |||||
| Recommendations: | Things to keep in mind for next time | |||||
| Difficulty: | Beginner | Ratting: | ||||
Elastic Waistband
The only change I made with this skirt was that I decided to make an encased elastic waistband instead of the traditional one included with the pattern.
I’ve mentioned previously that I’m losing weight and I wanted to make sure I would get a lot of wear out of this skirt, so adding elastic made sense.
To do this I essentially cut out the skirt waist size using my hips measurement. This way I would ensure that the skirt would be able to pull up over my hips.
Next, I cut a 4″ wide waistband the length of the skirt opening (hip circumference) plus 5/8 inch for the seam allowance.
I sewed the sides together and then attached the bottom of the waistband to the skirt, again using a 5/8 inch seam allowance.
To complete the waistband I folded it over the 5/8 inch seam allowance at the top then folded over the waistband. To attach I used the topstitching method from Tilly and the Buttons book Love at First Stitch.
Before sewing the waistband all the way around I left a small opening to pull through my elastic cut to my measurements plus 1/2 to sew the ends together.
It was pretty basic and worked perfectly. If you’d like a tutorial on this process, please let me know.
Perfect Holiday Outfit
My husband thought I was going a bit far with this print by making the sweater and matching skirt. Though when paired together they look amazing!
The golden champagne color of the fabric really gives it a dressy holiday feel while the little bit of stretch in the polyester makes it quite comfy.
I really love this outfit and wore it to Thanksgiving dinner with the family. It really was the perfect outfit it looks great, while the elastic and a bit of stretch that still keep you comfy after a large meal.
What is your perfect holiday outfit?
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