Hello again, friends! I promise I still make things! In fact, I’ve been “making” up a storm lately – but many projects are either gift-related or pattern-testing-related, and therefore secret for the time being.
However, I can finally let one of those cats out of the bag: my lovely friend and talented knitwear designer, Mindy Abodeely of Minuetknit has just released a new pattern, which I helped test knit. The pattern, St. Armand’s Circle, is the perfect summer knitting project. I realize this probably sounds like an oxymoron (hot weather + sweaters = ???), but such unicorns do actually exist. In this case, the top blends fingering weight yarn with a diaphanous fishnet lace, creating a breezy garment that can be dressed up or down for pretty much any occasion.
Since I’ve been a bit pressed for time this summer (read: WAY OVERBOOKED), I used this project as the knitted portion of my Outfit Along 2016 ensemble. For the sewn portion, I made myself a pair of much-needed black, high-waisted Ginger Jeans. Somewhere in the midst of getting back from my San Francisco trip and working full-time for Boston Ballet School’s summer intensive, I managed to get myself a gig as an organist, which means that I suddenly need a small army of work-appropriate pants at my disposal (playing the pedals in a skirt is a no-go for me…trust me, I’ve tried). Not wanting to wear traditional blue jeans to a Sunday morning church gig, and not having time to fit a new pants pattern, I thought black jeans might be a good solution.
I have to say, these might be my favorite pair in the history of pants – the black denim has a bit more stretch the then other blue denims I’ve used, which means they’re suuuper comfy, even though they’re high waisted. And the pocket stay means that everything stays, um, “in place,” so it’s pretty much a major win on all accounts. Since the fabric was so stretchy, I did end up interfacing the waistband with knit interfacing (which I haven’t done on any of my other Gingers), which seems to have provided the right amount of stability without making it too restrictive.
A few detail shots:
I looooove this outfit – I’m actually wearing it right now, about to go play a church service! I’m so pleased that I was able to use the OAL to create garments that actually fill a wardrobe need, and not just make more “frosting” (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). I know both of these pieces will get a lot of wear!
Dressing the Role 