The Viewridge and Cleo outfit

a cautionary tale

We all make mistakes, in sewing it can be hard to handle. Perhaps it’s because you have to destroy what you’ve just created. Here is how this outfit started out great but took some perseverance to get finished.

CleoskirtViewridgetopBlogThe event: a birthday party in a suite at the racetrack, with highs in the 80’s or 90’s I can’t remember (I ended up sick with a fever and didn’t get to wear it, whawha). Our going out usually consists of jeans and a nice shirt so this required a bit of a dressier outfit but also something that wouldn’t be too hot in this So Cal heat. I immediately knew what I wanted to make.

I had tested both patterns the View Ridge by Straight Stitch Designs and Cleo Skirt by Made by Rae, for these designers and shopped for fabrics with these specific patterns in mind. I knew what I wanted to use on them before I even paid for them so it seemed like a win before I even began. Oh how pride goes before a fall.

I quickly washed and dried the fabrics when I got home with them, as a busy mom I never know when the sewing muse and time to work will hit and I need my materials ready at a moments notice.

I cut and sewed the top in the wrong size! The last version of the View Ridge top I traced off (#teamtrace) had been a women’s 8 for my daughter’s super mario tank. I forgot to label the pattern with who and what size it was, and now that she is almost as tall as I am it’s easy to forget her pattern pieces don’t look all that different from mine.

If I don’t muscle the work, the fabric, if I respect the materials in my hands and I make a mistake, the materials seem to handle the seam ripping and remaking better.

Luckily I have a fabric buying rule of buying more than you think you need and had enough to cut out another in my size. The fabric was a cotton lawn with an embroidered motif of leaf and spider web looking shapes I found at Mood LA on the Cashmerette shopping trip, in February.

CleoViewridgeBlog4ViewridgetopBlogblkembroideryViewridgetopbackBlogThe skirt is the Cleo by Made by Rae because the pattern lends itself perfectly to a boarder print. I like this pattern a lot because it is a quick sew and comfortable to wear with the elastic back waistband, but looks stylish with the flat front. While shopping with my Mom this spring I found this amazing silk and cotton blend boarder print at The Fabric Store LA. It came together beautifully but my topstitching was wavy, so out came the seam ripper and I restitched.

CleoskirtViewridgetopBlog2CleoskirtViewridgetopBlog3CleoskirtBlogI’m still a little self conscious about the tiny bit of tummy peaking out but like the fit of it still. I altered the top pattern to be a bit shorter in the back as my high bottom was making it wrinkle in the lower back. That is why we sew to cloth the body we have, once you fit it to you it feels good on.

So measure twice, take notes, label and then label some more. And for goodness sakes don’t quit, no pattern make is the same twice, unless you’re making a Steve Jobs uniform and cutting the same fabric for the same pattern over and over again.