Bad Beignet

Hello, hello! The countdown to the holidays has arrived and everything feels like it's accelerating before it slows down.

Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure to attend the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook launch in San Francisco. I've got some funny photos to share with you, but read Amy of Sew Well's great post about it here.  I'm smitten with the book, I love patterns that just keep giving and that's the focus: pattern alteration. Watch out for the skirt in the spring!

Speaking of skirts, I noticed some great wrap-ups of the Fall Essentials Sew-Along and the Colette Patterns Fall Palette Challenge. I never whipped up an official list, but now that we're on the verge of winter, I should share with you my most recent garment which is, unfortunately, a fail.

Rewind two years. The Colette Beignet pattern was one of the first I bought.  Being a newbie, I cut up a vintage skirt and made this sorta-Beignet below.

2010

It wasn't awful given my skill set at the time. The buttonholes were a major accomplishment. But I recall tweaking it A LOT (this is just one incarnation) and the inside was just awful. Plus, I don't really like pink. So I stashed the pattern away.

But you, crafty ladies, kept tormenting me with lovely Beignets. Solvi and Scruffbadger come to mind. Curvy, vintage-esque awesomeness. And I've got a soft spot for any skirt made by Tasia, that Sewaholic whose style I can't quite emulate but love love.

I liked this Beignet because it seemed like it could easily go from day-to-night. A go-to Fall Skirt that would shepherd me warmly into Spring. I picked up some gray-ish loosely woven wool from the thrift store and spent way too much on pretty buttons. Mustard lining. I chopped off 1-3/4 off the top because of my obsessiveness with not-too-high waists.

And here it is:

So the lining, fit at the waist and pockets are great, but really MEH otherwise. That's actually the best photo.  Here's what it looks like most of the time:

Baggy and pulling and just overall unflattering.  I've been messing with the buttons to no avail. I've concluded 1) the Beignet is probably not for me. All that curviness, I ain't got it. And 2) Fit issues aside, this is really a fabric problem. The loosely woven wool is too light for the weight of the buttons.

I could try to whip this skirt into submission, taking in the panels (perhaps sacrificing the pockets) for a more flattering fit at the hip area. I could remove the button panel and replace it with a plain one, similar to my Sunday Morning Skirt. 

But I'm feeling today that life is short, so back in the back, back closet it goes. Perhaps I'll find the motivation after the holidays.

In the meantime I've been daydreaming, using my croqui.

This has inspired me to finally buy a pattern I've been longing for, Jalie 3024: Knit Dresses. Perhaps I can move on from the Bad Beignet and whip up one more garment before the first day on winter, end on a success.

Here's to you, in all the sewing successes and failures this fall, and to slowing down over the holidays.  I've been enjoying things line by line—curled up reading novels and knitting—and dreaming of stretchy things and woolen things and food and laughter.

xoxo A