Cobalt Continued, with Leather & Chains!

This week was a doozy between my head cold, my hubby's birthday, and Halloween, so not much sewing took place. But, tomorrow... TOMORROW!!! So, what I lacked in actual progress, I made up for in planning!  When I get an idea in my head, there's no stopping me. Just ask my poor husband!

So, last Friday I had "Cobalt on the Brain", and called Haberman Fabrics to see what they had on hand.  I was told that there were a few options, from wool knit to gabardine among others.  Saturday, I headed down to Royal Oak and sure enough, the wool gabardine was exactly what I had in mind! A nice mid-weight with enough structure to make a great sheath, it was from Donna Karan and priced at $18/yd... a little more than I wanted to spend. Especially considering that the pattern I had in mind was Simplicity 1802, this lovely Cynthia Rowley number.

Angel on Shoulder: "But, Kristine... it's not a sheath dress. You wanted a sheath dress. And, you know that a sheath dress won't require 3 yards. Right?"
Devil on Shoulder: "Who wants a boring sheath? Look at that skirt! It's going to move and sway! Imagine all the black piping in the seams! Swish... Swish... Swish!"
Angel on Shoulder: "Kristine! Dress B calls for nearly 3 yards of fabric! That's way too expensive! Not to mention that gabardine is a tad too heavy to Swish!"
Devil on Shoulder: "Angel has a point about the weight, I'll give her that.  What if we color-blocked with some black, like the Pinterest pictures?! Use this fantastic blue gabardine for the sleeve, shoulder, front bodice "triangle", waistband, and straight parts of the skirt... and find a nice and lightweight matte black (that's also cheaper) and do the skirt insets and diagonals on the bodice in black!"
Angel on Shoulder: "Well, if we're playing that game... then you could still do an amazing sheath with this dress bodice, but instead of the Swishy skirt, use Butterick 5566 for the skirt! Color-blocking would look sophisticated... but, so maybe it would be more "timeless" with black piping? Step it up a notch with black LEATHER piping!"

Skirts B,C, D or E (top 4 pictured)



So, I'm not sure who won the argument, but I brought 2 yards of cobalt blue Donna Karan gabardine home! I'm leaning toward the Angel's opinion of using piping and used "Paint" to create this line drawing of the marriage of the two patterns.

 While I know that color-blocking is another option (and the Dorothy Perkins dress from my previous post is an *amazing* dress), my fear is that it's to "trendy", while the piping has a more "classic" vibe that will work in my wardrobe a little bit longer.  Thoughts?

*****************************************************************

TOMORROW... I will finish my wonderful leather deer-skin/sweater knit jacket! I hit a bump in the road with finding the right closures, but I'm back on track now, and the light at the end of the tunnel is blinding!!! I had originally fallen for this closure at Mood Fabrics... but it's sold out at both NY and LA locations.

I thought I had found a better option at Etsy, and ordered it... only to have it arrive and be so much smaller than anticipated. So, I visited my local bead shop where I found the perfect chain, and I happened to have a toggle clasp in near matching metallic.

I'm not 100% sold on the few gold pieces mixed in with the "antique brass", and am tempted to shorten it a little more before I attach them to the jacket fronts. Maybe...