Sew a Word in Edgewise ::: תופרת וחופרת: My adventures with a stylist and the making of a skirt which followed

About 6 weeks ago, I won a facebook competition at one of the malls near where I work. The prize was 1000 NIS to spend in a store of my choice with a stylist, and a haircut. I had asked for a meeting with a stylist for my birthday, now – having won this excellent prize, I can ask for something else. I’m debating between a tablet of some sort or a makeup session (now that I know how to dress, I should learn how to wear makeup, right?). Money is, of course, not an issue in my fantasies of what I want for my birthday…

On Friday two weeks ago, I met with the stylist at the mall. First we sat down and discussed my body type and colors and she told me which colors and shapes I should wear. I have red hair, white skin with reddish highlights, blue eyes, and a non-slim hour glass shape (I’m really lucky – I gain weight evenly across all my body, so it doesn’t show as much as it could).
She recommended a V neckline but never spaghetti straps or elbow length shirts – they make your shoulders look much wider than they are. She recommended high waists and tucking my shirt in (sorry, I just can’t). She also said that because I’m tall, I could wear whatever length skirt or pants I want, but I still think that 3/4 length is not flattering to anyone really.


I didn't take these pictures, but you get the idea

Regarding colors, she recommended green, blue, brown and purple (which I already knew) and no red, orange or yellow (how boring, but I guess she’s right). She said nothing about black, because everyone wears black so stylists are on a mission to ignore that color, even though it’s one of the best colors for me. She also recommended off-white instead of white-white (which I wouldn’t have thought of myself), and camel (I disagree entirely).

Now starts the fun: we went to the store and tried out a million outfits. We picked a pair of black skinny dress pants which I would have never picked out myself, ever. They looked amazing! The cut was just right! I also got a drapy-tied black sleeveless top with an off-white lining and it was also perfect. The tied part hid any extra flab I have around my middle, without making me look like I was trying. Excellent. I also got a nicely tailored blue dress. We were running out of time and we needed to pick a 4th item, so I ended up with a light pink top which looked really nice on the hanger, but not on me. I have no idea what I was thinking when I took it, it’s a classic mistake of taking what there is. By the time I got home I already knew it was wrong for me, so I went back the next week and exchanged it for a black tailored dress. Much better.

On Sunday, I wore the first outfit to work. I got compliments on the way I was dressed all day. In the beginning it was nice, but by the middle of the day I started to wonder what I had been doing wrong before. I mean, I’m a good dresser (right?), what was the big change? Also, since that day, I’ve been slightly stressed about what to wear to work, because I needed to maintain the high standard I had set. I spent the whole week thinking about it. Here are my conclusions:
1. Yes, I’d been wearing clothes that were the wrong color. Mostly too much red/orange. I had spent so much of my teenage life wearing black, that I was now avoiding it. But really, black is perfect for me.
2. I was worried about this, and I think I was right to worry: I had not been dressing my age. I’m not a single 20 year old any more. Clothes that were appropriate 7-8 years ago just aren’t right anymore. I had been wearing to many bold patterns, I need to tone it down a bit.
3. My preferred skirt is an A line mid shin length. It’s comfortable and feminine. BUT, it’s not very flattering. It makes me look shlumpy. I needed to shorten and tailor a bit. A pencil skirt or a shorter A line would be much better.

I already have clothes that match those guidelines, so at least I’m not starting from scratch. I did put aside a whole bunch of clothes which will now be used for casual hanging out at the park with the kids, but not for work or even going out for breakfast with my husband (dinner is a different story entirely).

So now I’m thinking, what will I do with all the fabric I bought for making the wrong type of clothes? The same day, this skirt tutorial pops up in my feed. I think: this will be perfect for the black-purple plaid fabric! It’s just tailored enough to be elegant and interesting, and casual enough to be comfortable.

I liked the general idea, but I didn’t like the way they made the pleats, so I modified the pattern slightly.
Start by calculating the size of the pieces you need and cut them according to the instructions in the tutorial.
Since I actually made the effort to match the pattern of the fabric, I also marked the front and back pieces and which way was up.

Now, instead of following their pleat instructions, I did the following:
1. Fold your fabric in half, fronts facing.
2. Mark and pin the fabric in a straight line 10 cm (4 inches) from the folded edge (or the twice the width of pleat you want, it should be much wider than that if it's for a grown up). After the first 10 cm or so, put the pins in along the sewing line, not horizontal in the area where you’re not actually going to sew.
3. Sew down the line about 10 cm (or how deep you want the sewn part of the pleat to be, don’t forget to include the hem allowance in this calculation).

4. Remove the pins from the area you just sewed. I recommend leaving the rest of the pins in until you’re ready to hem the bottom. It helps keep the skirt straight until you’re done.
5. Open the folded fabric along the pins/sewn line. Align the original fabric fold with the sewn line by opening and flattening the fabric. Iron flat.