First of all, I was very happy that my friend, Rachel at Nest Full of Eggs, asked me to come along with her on this Stylo project.  I love the fashion photography aspect of this little magazine, plus add in the fact that I get to sew up something a bit dressier than normally allowed..well, this was a lot of fun.

When choosing patterns and fabrics for the shoots, we were supposed to do something that others would be able to recreate.  I really, really tried to do this, which honestly was the hardest part for me.  I tend to take patterns and hack the crap out of them.

Fabric availability was another issue.  I buy at local fabric stores with no online presence.  I tried to find substitutes, and hope it worked well enough.

So, without further ado…

This is my favorite outfit for Stylo Magazine (though, I was pretty happy with how both outfits turned out), and I just love the blush and gold colors together.  Here were the patterns I used for this look:

• Sequin jacket – Ottobre 4/2010 #38 (fabric: iridescent sequin, cream satin, cream lycra knit)
• Top – Balloon Top by Heidi & Finn (fabric: gold metallic knit, cream chiffon, lace applique)
• Pants – Retro Sweatpants by Elegance and Elephants (fabric: pink knit with metallic overlay)

I had a hard time finding a little jacket pattern that was what I wanted.  Eventually, I just browsed through my years of Ottobres and found one that would work.  I changed the size of the collar and omitted the pockets on the front (didn’t want to torture myself with putting welt pockets onto sequins!).

Heidi & Finn and Elegance and Elephants donated the patterns for the magazine.  That was very nice of them.  I think the ballet top was a bit small for the size 9, though.  I have a skinny kid that is hugging the bottom of the bmi scale, and it was a tight fit in the arms.  The armscye needs to be a little longer.  Well, just longer overall.  It was almost too short for her, and it won’t take too long before the shirt hits her belly button.  I should have put it up against her other shirts to make sure it was long enough in the torso.    I also lined the top of the pattern, per personal preference.  I think the ribbing along the neckline would have distracted from the lace applique.

The jacket…well, lots of mods on this one.  In case you were unaware…sequins require the patience of a saint. Do not sew with them if you want to sew something quick.  Also do not sew with them on the serger unless you want to shoot a broken needle at your eyeball.  I knew not to sew on the serger with them, but didn’t stop in time from the satin/knit transition to the sequins and an inch in and a needle was broken.

The sleeves are lined with a knit, and I should have widened them a good inch or so for a more generous fit.  Any seam that is exposed on sequins with be scratchy unless you pick out all of the sequins in the seam.  Not fun.  I bias-bound all of the exposed seams.

Yeah…it was a hoot.

But..awesome jacket!

Her expression when she saw it was priceless.  Needless to say, she approved.  And posed with it much in front of the mirror.

Hopefully, she will wear it in the future.  This is more of a ‘showcase’ piece, so I splurged on the fabric at SR Harris ($20/yd for the sequins).  It is a fish scale sequin, where you can actually run your hand the opposite direction of the nap and it will raise up the layers like fish scales.  I expect the child to do that so often she will completely ruin the jacket, thus the reason why we got pictures before she was allowed to wear it. 😉

I will post details for the Oliver & S black/white/silver outfit tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!  🙂