Some of the following photos to be filed under The Futility of Photographing Black Garments. You’ll just have to imagine that you can actually see the style lines and details!

This is the BurdaStyle Wrap Blouse from the 04/2014 magazine, but also available online here: http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/wrap-blouse-042014. I’m also sporting a Love Notions pencil skirt which I’ll discuss more below.

Back to the blouse: I made one back in 2014 in black crepe (see below), but it met an untimely demise when I bent forward to pick something up — there’s a good chance it was a cat — and the centre-back seam split apart. It wasn’t a matter of just restitching the seam; the crepe weave had actually pulled apart so there was nothing left to sew. Note to self: size up next time. Or find some crepe with elastane.

In December I went to Mood Fabrics in New York City and while I was getting something cut, another customer came up to the cutting table with some luscious black knit that we both oohed and aahed over. In my quest to be more sane in my fabric choices — i.e. choosing solids instead of SCREAMINGLY LOUD EXCITING PRINTS all the time — I decided to get some. Along with a SCREAMINGLY LOUD EXCITING PRINT, of course, but that’s a story for another time. Unfortunately you can’t tell from the pics (the perils of Photographing Black Garments) but the right side of it has a beautiful but subtle sheen to it…not a sparkle or shine but just a beautiful smoothness.

I sewed the same size again with the knit fabric. It’s actually more roomy than I expected, but still a good fit. This is a great pattern choice for either a woven or a knit, as long as you choose the size accordingly. With a knit, you could choose to sew down the front so you don’t have a wardrobe malfunction in a strong breeze. You couldn’t do that with a woven unless you put an invisible zipper in the centre back to allow you to get in and out of it.

I should also note that I added 4 inches to the length of the crepe version and 5 inches to length of the knit version, as the pattern is drafted to be more cropped. I think I will stick with adding 4 inches to future versions. I inserted a neck-band for this knit version instead of the narrow hem the pattern instructions use.

I love this blouse! I really love its minimalist-chic vibe, and I think it’s a great basic-but-sophisticated wardrobe staple. I have a beautiful black crepe with an Asian-style crane print in my stash which I may use to make another. It would also be great in silk, linen, rayon…there are a LOT of possibilities with this pattern. And it’s also extremely beginner-friendly — even for BurdaStyle! Just 4 pattern pieces to cut.

On to the skirt! This is from the Sybil Illusion Skirt Collection from Love Notions. It was first brought to my attention by Mac of Harper + Lu. You can see her gorgeous black and white check swing version here. This skirt collection is a great wardrobe-building pattern because, well, check it: just about every skirt style you could want in one pattern, plus optional POCKETS!

I made the pencil skirt version, because a) I love pencil skirts; b) I only just had enough of this houndstooth knit fabric left to do it (I had previously used some of this yardage to make my McCall’s 7127 crossover top); and c) a pencil skirt is a satisfying super-quick sew.

I have also made the box-pleat skirt from this pattern collection in a plain black jersey, but I’m having trouble styling it. When I get around to taking pictures of it, I’ll be sure to share them with you so you can enjoy looking at a detail-less blob of black on your screen. 😉 And maybe you can help me figure out what to wear with it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

— Lori

 

 

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