Actually made some separates!

When it comes to dresses or tailored items I have no end of inspiration and ideas but as for separates - I rarely sew them.  And yet I look in my closet for something to wear.  I am trying to remedy that lately, a recent project was this shirt and I am about ready to use some blue silk charmeuse on a long sleeve shirt, hopefully before December is over.  But in the meantime I did make this knit top and denim skirt.  According to my photographer, I am a blinker - so this photo was the best of the bunch.

The top is the ubiquitous Jalie scarf-collar top, and I do feel that as usual I am the last person in the sewing universe to make a popular pattern.  Fabric is a rayon knit from Stone Mountain in Berkeley which I bought on a rainy Sunday shopping excursion with Jean of JKaori Designs. Not sure I will make that top again, the tie is a bit flip-floppy for me and it is kind of distinctive.  However the Jalie pattern fits well and I can see using it as a starting point for other tops.

The skirt is black denim with maybe 4% lycra which I am starting to think is too much stretch. Plus I have my hands in the pockets, creating some creases across the front which are really not there. I used Simplicity 2152 but the pockets are nothing like the pattern where the pockets are sewn on the outside of the skirt, albeit into the seams.   
I wanted the pockets to be inside the side fronts, plus I eliminated the pocket trim.  
Here is a closer look at the pockets.  As it turned out the pocket placement is much higher and nearer the waistband than on the original pattern design.

For the inside of the waistband I used a different fabric, I wanted something less bulky than the denim but not slippery, so that it would stay on the waist.  I have always found that skirts lined all the way to the waistband have an annoying tendency to rotate around and then my center front is somewhere on the side.  Or maybe that is just me? But to counter that I used this cotton fabric scrap and then lined the skirt portion in satin, as I wanted to be able to wear tights in the winter and I don't like it when the denim sticks to tights.  Whew, that is a lot of thinking about the inside of a skirt.  Oh well, the fun of sewing, you can do whatever you want! 

As evidenced when I made this dress last year - with the mix and match lining.

I have a feeling I will probably wear this skirt a lot more in the summer than now. . . is it spring yet?   And see in the first photo - we do get some autumn color here in CA.  

Happy Fall Sewing, Beth