Choir Wardrobe: The Easter Weekend edition 2013

7 services spread over 3 days.  Over 5,000 in attendance and, well, can I just say that it really is a blessing to ME to be able to be part of it?  It seems silly to talk about what I wore...really, it always seems silly to come home from church and talk about what I wore, and periodically I have to give my little disclaimer that it really ISN'T about what I wore...so, you know, it's just because the choir wardrobe is the driving force behind so much of my sewing.

Like this weekend.  In the midst of all the poppy production, I found that my interpretation of 'emerald green' has been far too, um, green. We had samples at rehearsal Thursday night, and the 'emerald green' was an almost dead match for the 'jade green' that I wore back around 1990.  Still have the earrings I wore to prove it.

But the earrings were the only thing in my wardrobe that were the right green.  So I pulled a piece of rayon out of the stash that I'd gotten last year when the color was 'seafoam'...but didn't have time to sew.  It was close enough to what was being worn as 'grayed jade', even though it looks aqua in the photos.  Took Saturday off from poppies, threw the rayon on the cutting table Saturday morning, and, well...

Friday night, though, I didn't have any green available.  So Friday I went with cream/beige and navy, although you can't see the little beige/navy made-ages-ago-from-a-remnant square scarf that's lost in the hair.  A pieced lace/eyelet/knit RTW top, blue jeans (yes, blue jeans are the base pretty much year round, although we got an OK for khaki pants, since that was more or less in the color palette for the month) and the stretch khaki sateen McCalls 5860 jacket.  And I resolved to try and stand more straight on to the camera; I just had no idea how sideways I turned...

By Saturday night, I'd cut out a sleeveless top and, by arranging the pieces end-to-end instead of side-by-side, I got a nice long scarf from the rayon.  And I found a RTW jacket hanging in the laundry room that I'd purchased on mad clearance late last summer and totally forgotten about.  Halfway through the night, I remembered that the reason it was hanging in the laundry was because the button thread was unraveling...but it worked.   A navy viscose/lycra Jalie 2566 cap sleeved t is the bottom layer, with the new scarf.


And I stayed up and finished the top I'd cut out, Simplicity 2599.  I modified the pattern a bit, using bias binding on the neckline and armholes rather than a facing, and I made it entirely on the standard sewing machine, not wanting to unthread the red on the serger.  So that meant french seams.  I'd kinda botched the first version, the one in the review, and I wanted to make the top up un-botched and see what I really had to work with.  And..it's just ok.  It will need to be worn under a jacket at all times; there just isn't enough ease in it.  Not the pattern's fault, I fear; I underestimated my size.  And I used 5/8" seams...I may have used 1/4" seams in the first one (ETA:  I went back and read my review...and I DID use 1/4" seams in that first top.  So, um, yeah.  It would be helpful to pay attention to my own documentation, eh?).  That will be a simple adjustment: the biggest problem is that it really is too wide in the front upper chest and shoulders; I need to work that out.  But it is a GREAT basic pattern and will be a wardrobe workhorse once I get the fitting tweaked.  Almost instant clothes.  Perfect for last minute choir needs. ;-)  Oh...khaki stretch cotton sateen Daphne Pants and, since I didn't wear blue jeans, I could wear  my denim Vogue 8045 jacket...close enough to navy blue.  The scarf was a really cheap thing I picked up while sock shopping last week...really pretty pitiful up close but it worked great, color-wise.  And it was only five bucks. That photo was taken after being at church from 8 AM - 7 ish PM....and moments before I switched to comfy stretchy loungy clothes for banana splits and the inaugural viewing of  'The Rise of the Guardians'....which may just become the new Easter tradition.

Still finishing the data entry after the weekend; made one milestone before I left the building last night, stayed at work extra today to make the next one.  The next milestone is finishing it altogether...aiming for close of business tomorrow, then I can take the rest of the week off and focus on poppies...