I’m really bad about starting suits and taking forever to finish them. At least the suit you’re about to see didn’t take me almost four years to finish! It was only back in February when I started this one.
Ugh…the skirt looks like I cut it crooked in these photos because it barely fit over the skirt frame of my dummy and I obviously didn’t get it tugged into line, but I hope you’ll believe me that the plaid hangs straight when it’s on me, not my dress form.
This suit was frankly inspired by the 1998 Chanel line of “deconstructed” suits with fringey raw edges and a loose, informal silhouette. I was going for something a little more curvaceous than the standard Chanel cardigan suit and found it in the combination of Butterick B4863 (Option D) for the jacket and New Look 6541 (Option C) for the skirt. I modified the skirt pattern by shortening it about 3.5″ so that it hits just a bit below knee level rather than at the ungainly mid-calf, which is where this pattern lands as-drafted (though the envelope photo clearly shows a knee-length skirt). I’ve also made Option D from this pattern and found out the hard way that it ends up being longer than illustrated. I’m not in the petite range, so I believe that whoever made the skirt shown on the envelope didn’t follow the pattern as drafted.
Anyway, I’m pretty happy with how this suit turned out. My pattern matching turned out as well as can be expected, considering the bias-cut flounce. The plaid matches up along all of the vertical seams, and that’s about the best that can be achieved with this type of garment. The pattern is designed to be unlined, but given the loose weave of this boucle tweed, I interlined the suit throughout, excepting the flounces, just to reinforce the fabric and give it a little more structure and body.
I really like the shape (and fit) of this Butterick jacket pattern and have plans to make it up again in another fabric. It is great at insinuating curves that I don’t strictly posses. I’ll be changing the pattern up a little bit…I don’t like the collar for options A through C as designed with its weird little faux-notch, so I will be rounding that off into a more standard shawl collar.
This suit may be a little too giddy for interview wear, but for regular office wear, it will be quite a nice option.
Awesome!
Gorgeous!
Thank you!
Thank you! I’m pretty happy with the end results.
Really, Meetz, I think that’s a bang-on interview suit. It’s confident and feminine and you would look super in it. It’s very “Why, Miss Jones, but… you’re beautiful!”
M, that is a seriously stunning suit. I truly envy your amazing seamstress skills.
Aww, thanks! It’s mostly a matter of patience that gets it done.
Well, since I’m in the midwest, things are a little (LOT) conservative around here, and showing up in a ruffly plaid suit would probably be the kiss of not-hired.