Some years bring a packed holiday calendar, and others feel a little quieter, but dressing festively never has to depend on the number of parties you attend. Kasey wanted something cheerful and quick, so she turned to her TNT patterns in rich holiday colors. A maraschino red bamboo rib knit and a pine green lyocell twill came together to create a comfortable, flattering outfit with seasonal flair!
Though I don’t have many holiday parties to attend this year, and despite the recent increases to my evening wear wardrobe, I wanted something that felt a little more festive. A quick way to do that is with TNT’s in holiday colors!
My remote battery died again already, and apparently this was the best I could with the self timer, which has to be reset with each photo… sorry for the blur but I have no patience for technology!
I got bamboo rib knit in maraschino red a little while back (sold out in red, other colors are here), and decided to use it to make a top from my Blue Ginger Doll Bonnie (OOP) TNT. I wanted something cozy for the cooler weather, so I added a turtle and extended the sleeves. This particular rib knit is in bamboo, and I noticed when using it in white last year that it will seem to shrink, but after a few days, or, with a bit of steam from the iron, it does relax back to its original size. While I was able to correct my white top by recutting it, I wanted to see if it would work to cut this fabric first, then wash (I’m a dedicated pre-washer – lots of skin allergies!)
And it worked just fine; it did seem to shrink after washing, but relaxed with wearing. Another note on the fabric; the bamboo really seems to hold onto moisture, so definitely wash this with other items. I washed it by itself, and the fabric was so sodden, the washing machine spent two hours trying to “rebalance” the load so it could do the spin cycle – it never did. I took it out of the machine, squeezed (squoze?) it, then got it to half-dry on a low cycle in the dryer. I did notice while squeezing out the excess water that it was pink, so if you have this fabric in red, you may want to wash it with other red items, or color catchers, or however else you prefer to address excess dye.
I assembled it very quickly on the serger and coverstitch machines, less than two hours from cutting to finish. I also used wash away stay tape to set the hem, because the samples were stretching out on the coverstitch. Don’t forget stay tape for the shoulder seams!
The skirt is another TNT, Kwik Sew 4137 (OOP) made in pine green lyocell twill. I really love this fabric! It looks and feels like a sueded silk, and has wonderful drape and recovery. Yes, it wrinkles, but I’m able to get the wrinkles out with a quick steam in the dryer. At one point while traveling, I wanted to refresh my white lyocell pants, so, I tried just spritzing with water. I assumed it would take all night to dry, but it was actually dry within a couple of hours, so a quick tip if you don’t want to risk a hotel iron on your white lyocell pants (those irons always seem to be rusty).
I used my serger to assemble the skirt, and topstitched the hem and pockets with my sewing machine. I used the stay tape again to reinforce the pocket edges.
I also made a sash belt from another pattern, S8605, just to add a little something else to the skirt. I used the mid-weight fusible to line one side of the belt to reinforce it, since it’ll be around the waist and tied in a knot.
This skirt would have been a mere 3-hour project, but, I decided my dress form was wrong, and “fixed” the hem… guess who was right! No, not me! I did wear this skirt to an event with the uneven hem, but to paraphrase Pearl the squidlet from Finding Nemo “you can’t really tell, especially when I twirl it like this….” But I have humbly gone back to my dress form and re-marked and re-hemmed the skirt, and now it’s lovely and even.
Now I have a fun and festive outfit to wear to holiday parties! It can be dressed up with jewelry and heels (A big thanks to Rosemary for the shoe catalog recommendation!) or I can go casual with boots.
