I've never felt so trendy. Witness the glory of the midriff.

Finally! I have been sewing like crazy these past few weeks but my photographer was absent most of the time so we never really had an opportunity to photograph anything. Yesterday was an amazingly nice summer day so when a friend invited us over for lunch I put on my new skirt + crop top set and snuck some pictures in her garden.

Hang on, crop top? Yep! I took a page out of Hanne's book and made my own matchy outfit. Check it out, almost looks like a dress, right?

HAHA FOOLED YOU!

This was a pretty easy make. I used this Burda pattern as a base because it fit me well and it didn't need closures, and just eliminated the sleeves. And then chopped quite a bit off the length. The skirt is just rectangles and a waistband. Short rectangles since I didn't have that much fabric (I feel like I've been saying that a lot, maybe I should get over my delusion that I can make anything out of 1,5 metres of narrow fabric)! I like the proportions in the end though, a longer skirt would have made it less playful.

The fabric is a yarn-dyed hand-woven cotton that I bought at Bolt in Portland on our trip over there. It was a dream to work with, and is perfect for this in my opinion: enough body to make it look structured but still soft and breathable. I completely abandoned any pattern matching on this though, especially on the back. I couldn't cut it on the fold because not enough fabric so there's a seam, and I ended up taking a chunk out of the waist because it was just too wide so now there's an eyesore of a mismatched seam. Look away, Sewing Bee judges! I did finish all the edges and hems with bias facings, which have been hand-stitched down. Can I get some points back for that?

I did my first ever exposed zipper using this Megan Nielsen tutorial. It's not perfect, but I'll definitely do one of these again (I'm actually planning to sew this exact outfit again in a lightweight denim... And paint it of course). The only problem I have with exposed zippers like these is that the metal teeth are right next to my skin, which can both get hot or cold depending on the weather.

I also painted eyes on the backs of my shoes so I can always spot my enemies. Or something.

I wore this to a friend's garden for lunch first since this is a pretty new silhouette for me, and I wasn't sure how comfortable I would feel with a short skirt and a top that shows skin where I'm definitely not used to showing skin (I haven't even worn a bikini in years). In the end I felt all right in it, so this is an experiment that went well!

Bonus picture of Morris, my friend's awesome cat. The only reason he's not desperately trying to escape my arms here is that there was a bird outside.