Hi everyone! Life is pretty good, but I haven’t had a whole lot of time for sewing and knitting lately. Instead, I’m doing more shopping. *gasp!* I know.

But I need to get my work wardrobe up to snuff more quickly than I can create things on my own. While I feel a little like a traitor to the sewing world for buying clothes, it’s been an interesting experience. I’m learning a lot about what looks good on me, what’s iffy and what’s just plain bad. In the end, I’m sure this will help my sewing too.

Here’s what I wore to work so far this week:

Tuesday:

I sewed the red skirt, which I quite like; unfortunately, it’s prone to wrinkling. Some day, I’d like to find a better red fabric and re-create it. The top is by Vince Camuto. In the store, I was quite taken by the fun print and the interesting draping. I must confess that I’m a little iffy on how the top looks on me. I worry that the interesting drapery makes my upper half look droopy.

The boots are by Clarks. I like them, but they’re not the most comfortable Clarks I’ve ever had. I’m still searching for the perfect boot. My coat is something I found a handful of years ago. Apparently faux fur is in this year, so I shook the cobwebs off and brought it back into rotation.

Wednesday

Wednesday’s outfit was very comfortable and included some of my favorite colors! The cardigan is hand-knit and it has seen better days, but I still like it so it got a day out on the town. The top I’m wearing under it has a pretty butterfly print and twists across the midriff.

My pants are thrifted and a bit too short, but they’ll have to do until I can either sew or buy a better alternative.

Thursday

I wore my crazy batwing sweater dress, which I found at TJ Maxx the other day. It’s terrific! Very cozy. Very trendy. I hope I don’t look ridiculous in it.

I wasn’t sure how to style it. It looked a little shapeless from the front, so I added the belt. I wish I had a larger selection of belts to choose from. This one isn’t quite right. Jewelry was hard to choose too. The collar made it tricky with both earrings and necklaces. I’m going to play with this dress more to see if I can inject the look with more color next time.

If I can dress like a pig, I can dress like a bat, right? No matter what I wear, I don’t think I will project as much power and menace as batman.

I’ll have better luck emulating the fuzzy creature with the large wings.

Photo from http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2007/02/26/lesser-long-nosed-bats/

Except I’m going to be a PINK bat. Covered in flowers. Yesterday, a couple of you suggested I use my fuzzy pink fabric to make a batwing top. I was intrigued and immediately started searching through my pattern collection. I found two candidates.

Butterick 5497

And BurdaStyle 4-2011-118C

I’m partial to the Butterick version, because it’s snugger around the torso. I don’t want to end up looking like I’m wearing a baby blanket! However, I’m a little worried about how the gathered edges would look. Any thoughts or alternate suggestions?

The ric-rac issue taught me one thing: you are an opinionated bunch. That’s fantastic! At least for me, because I’m wishy-washy (at least when it comes to sewing) and I love to have someone around who can nudge me in the right direction. Perhaps you can help me with another quandry…

On an impulse, I bought a novelty fabric and now I have absolutely no idea what to do with it.

This is a fairly thick novelty knit fabric in pink. PINK! I won’t be able to fade into the background when wearing something made with this. As you can see, it has a nice drape.

It has an interesting texture which vaguely looks like hydrangeas or mums or daisies–or some kind of flower.

What would you do with something like this? I think (but could be wrong) that it would be best for something with simple design lines and perhaps showing off the fabric’s drape. All ideas are welcome!