Progress on a sequinsy sewing dare

Back in August I decided to take on a sewing dare from Gillian "To draft a pattern using a new to me fabric and then find an occasion to wear it ".

My plan was to make something like this dress I saw at Claudie Pierlot when I was in France in March. I adore the clash of casual versus sequins and have often thought about this dress, wishing that I'd bought it, so thought I'd try it for myself. Despite looking like a skirt and top, the Claudie Pierlot is actually a dress. 

There are some amazing dresses being sewn in sequins at the moment - go check out Poppykettle or Gail at myfabrication.  This is NOT such an outfit!  But I did have fun making it and for years I will find tiny sequins throughout the house.

I've mentioned before the fantastic assistance I had from Colette at Tessuti in choosing the sequins for me.  She sent me down 3 versions of the disco stretch sequins (2 matt and 1 shiny) and two viscose jerseys (a marle and a darker grey) - I think something like this.  I wasn't sure that the jersey (which is very lightweight) would hold the sequins, so early on I decided to just make separates. And to be honest I wasn't sure about the top I was going to make, so best to play safe with separates.  With mixed, very mixed results.

The Top
Mmmmm. Fail!! I'm not that happy with this top.  Just like our poor side gate behind me in the photo, bits are ok but it's not really good.  Construction wise it's ok.  I used the Briar pattern  as the base and reinforced the shoulders and the hem. But I feel like it looks like a pyjama top.  I don't wear a lot of tops or tshirts like this - in fact none.  Ever.  Knit tops that I wear are always a heavier fabric (more cotton?) and usually boat neck so I feel odd and a bit self conscious in this. Originally I had put a band on the bottom of it but that band was doing me NO favours! So I cut it off but then had problems getting the right length.  I was looking for the 'drop waist' look but failed. My original vision was of a top with longer sleeves, but - well nothing really works does it.  So, sort of sewing dare fail (for now) in the top department.  But all is not lost. Onto the skirt..

The Skirt
I love the skirt. I mean I'm barely ever going to wear it but I still love it. It was not at all difficult to put together.  It is such very basic construction that I'm not sure I can even say I drafted anything.   I used the matt sequins as the main part and then simply sewed the shiny sequis piece on the bottom.

You can see from the picture below that I just sewed the pieces on top of each other as I wanted the effect for the bottom piece of fabric.. and you can't see the stitches anyway.

This picture on the left is also the best representation of the colours and 'shininess'.

There is only one seam at the back.I then simply 'sandwiched' the wide elastic in between the lining and fabric et voila!

So, back to the drawing board with the top (already have something else in mind as I am keen to wear this skirt out, and actually wearing it is half the dare! So I'm not done yet.

Don't ask me but a tennis racquet just seemed like the perfect accessory.