I was supposed to attend a celebration halfway through March and was planning an outfit for that event. Unfortunately, Covid put a stop to it all. I’d started my new pantsuit in time and had it mostly finished by March 9. Then waited too long to seam the legs in the week of the event (in hopes that it would still go through). However, it took me until last week to actually finish the thing with all bells and whistles. The bells and whistles being a detachable bow-belt thing.
Usually I find a fabric and then look for a pattern with it. In this case, I’d found the pattern and went on a hunt for fabric. In the end, I chose a black and white ‘waffly’-thin-scuba something. I don’t even know how to describe it, but it has stretch in it and the back looks odd. The pantsuit was made from the fabric with the larger scale pattern and the bow from the smaller scale pattern fabric.
Anyway, the plan was to make this pantsuit from Knipmode nr. 9 2019, pattern nr 8. I’d needed to first see if it would fit, so I mocked up a short version of the pants and the top. I had to take in the top and reduce the length in the shoulder straps. When I tried on the shorts, I looked like I was wearing a diaper. So I gave up and used my regular pants pattern.
Since I wasn’t sure if I would always want to walk around with a giant bow on my front, I decided to make the bow detachable. I couldn’t figure out how I actually wanted the bow, so I procrastinated for, well, two and a half months. In the end I made belt loops, and added buttons to the bow. There are tiny thread loops on the suit, at the pockets, centre front and top, to hook the buttons into. I haven’t tested it out for any length of time, so the plan is to do that at some point. Perhaps once I’ve finished a blouse to wear with it, since it is very low in the back. I do like the abstract print of it, so we’ll see how it wears.
