Charlie Genoa and the Purple Plans

 Coming in today with a full outfit!

I seem to be having a purple era at the moment as all my recent fabrics have been a variation of violet. 

It started with some amazing Fabric Godmother satin which I couldn't pass up in the sale simply because...snakes.

Wondering what I could actually wear with this I treated my self at Christmas to some seriously gorgeous sweater knit from Beyond the Pink Door.  

This is beautiful knit with a great weight and drape. A lovely lighter jumper to have in the arsenal. 

The two garments I made were entirely new to me. Firstly we have the Atelier Jupe Charlie Sweater.  Never having tried Atelier Jupe before I was a little nervous of cutting straight in - but I did regardless. 

Edit - apparently I have used this pattern company - Atelier Jupe Alex Coat! 

The pattern was really true to size - I went for 42/44 and made no changes. It has that classic sweater shape with just the right amount of 'oversize' without being too big. It also has slightly billowy sleeves at the cuff which is quite nice. There are several neck and sleeve options to this pattern so a great wardrobe builder. 

For the skirt I went for the Style Arc Genoa Cut Bias Skirt - satin, skirts and bias are not typically things I make so this was really a wild card! I really like it though - although I do feel I will wear it more in spring with a graphic tee and trainers or sandals - I just couldn't style it with tights/boots etc without looking daft. Tips welcome!

The skirt pattern was really funny - it's one piece. Cut twice. I did go rogue on the construction as I did french seams to stop any fray on the satin, and I also made a channel for the elastic (as opposed to stitching it directly onto the top of the skirt. I used 1.5 inch elastic and thread it through (I prefer this so it can be changed at a later date if needed). 

I thought the bias skirt was going to cling to every lump and bump (which of course it sort of does) but the satin is such amazing quality and weight it feels luxurious to wear!

There we have it - a few good basics which can hopefully be mixed and matched this Spring. Which is hopefully coming...after the 9 years of winter so far...

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