Sunny Day Grey

Now that I’ve stripped bare, let me take a few minutes to get dressed. And make certain it’s a properly fitted garment. If I’m going to go ahead and have a third-life crisis, I might as well look good, no?

Oh, what have we here? Could it be the perfect pencil skirt? New and improved over my previous two renditions, made to fit my curves like a glove.

It is most definitely new. And improved. There is a back vent (holler if you know Sunni’s tutorial on that). A full lining of silk habotai. Organza to reinforce the invisible zip. Waistband interfaced with fusible woven and organza for a little extra firmness, then hand stitched on the inside (I kinda hate the stitch in the ditch method). Side seams serged (fashion fabric), French (lining) and CB of lining pinked. Hem tape hand catchstitched. My oh my, this grey stretch sateen number is sure to knock it out of the park.

But the fit, oh the fit. Raise your hands if you’ve ever fallen prey to the evil temptations of over-fitting a garment. I absolutely love the way this looks from the front, nice and slim/curvy/sexy. But the rear view isn’t perfect on me. And really, I think I had a good thing going with the first two versions. It’s an age-old story, the one about the answer being right in front of you all along. Girl meets skirt, girl falls for skirt, they have some really great times together. Then, one day, girl catches a glimpse of something new. Maybe better, she isn’t certain, but must find out what that little glimmer is. Torn up and cast aside, skirt stays in the background, strong and silent, waiting for this dalliance to pass.

At a certain point, I knew this wasn’t THE skirt. But I just had to finish. I was beyond a stopping point, and out of grey sateen.

If you truly love something, let it go, right? This skirt should be worn by someone, so if you are 27-28″ in the waist and less than 39″ in the hip, this might work for you. FYI, my fullest point is about 11″ from my thinnest point. If you’re fullest is a tad higher, this will prob work better. My waist is 28″ and the band was cut to fit, but the flat half measurement (below) is 13.5″. So, leave a comment to win. And please oh please don’t live some place insanely expensive to ship to. I just quit my job. Ha! If you want to comment, but don’t want to enter, just say so and I’ll take you out of the running.

This is my little way of saying thank you for the encouragement and kind wishes. I am truly grateful.

Now a question: I’m at a hair-pulling moment where I can no longer live without a dress form. I just know that it will make my life so much easier, my garments so much better, and my efforts to find the perfect fit will be rewarded. I can taste it like I can taste the bubbly I’ve been drinking every night. (Everybody drinks champagne regularly, admit it.) I’m pretty much ready to go with the Fabulous Fit misses 3/4, but wanted to see what you all think. Do you use a dress form? What make/model? What do you love/dislike about your form? The Fabulous Fit is selling me at the moment because their whole schtick is the custom pads you insert to fill out the form to your shape, not just your measurements. Sounds like a winner, but I still like to crowd source.

Off to finish up more UFOs so that I can have a fresh start with all the other pretty little things distracting me. Like this blouse I’ve become obsessed with… it exists only at Downton Abbey, on Lady Mary, and I really must make one. Black and white stripes, wide ones, silk. I digress.

Okay, rules: Leave a comment, win a skirt. Please only enter if you think it will fit you :) Contest is open until December 7, 2011, 23:59 EST. That’s midnight a week from now, folks. Want to whisper sweet nothings in my ear, but don’t want to enter? Just say so in your comment :) Here are the flat measurements (double the waist/hip)

• waist – 13.5 ” / 34.29 cm
• hip – 19.5″ / 49.53 cm
• length – 26″ / 66 cm

ps- if you’ve ever done a giveaway, mind helping a sister out? how does one insert the results from the random number generator? i can run a test, but can’t grab the image of the results. i don’t want to add an actual widget to the blog, just get a single result. (ms. balloona, i’m looking at you…did you do a pay lottery for that cute customization?)

pps- don’t count yourself out if you live far away… i was only being snarky. unless you live in Antarctica, but what good would a pencil skirt do you there? unless it were a puffer pencil skirt. also, i always forget about screen shots, just never really utilize them. so thanks, smarty skirts Ginnie & Louise and a big doh to me :)