Pieces Eight and Nine...and Final Contest Entry

This weekend I completed my entry into the Endless Combinations contest at Pattern Review. I had only ever entered one other contest at PR, and that was the One Fabric: Cotton contest. For that contest you had only to make a single garment, and the garment had to be made entirely of 100% cotton fabric. For this contest you had to make a minimum of four items, and each item had to coordinate with at least one item that was made before it.

The example given on the PR discussion board was: "Sew skirt A. Sew blouse B that goes with skirt A. Now your garment C could pants to go with blouse B, or a shirt to go with skirt A. Garment D could be another blouse that goes with skirt A."

Based on this, I started with a tunic sweater...and ended with a black twill blazer. Here is the "path" I followed for the contest:


This weekend, I finished the final two items, the grey turtleneck (#8) and the black twill jacket (#9). The grey turtleneck was from the BurdaStyle pattern that I had already used a number of times, and the black twill jacket was from Butterick 4610:


Because I had recently made a Big 4 pattern with two-piece sleeves and found the sleeves to be both too long and too wide, I checked this pattern against the alterations that I made to that pattern. Sure enough, the sleeves were too long and too wide again, so I slit the sleeves vertically to overlap some of the width and narrow towards the wrist. I also but them horizontally along one of the fitting lines, and shortened them by one inch.

I also decided to make a back facing since I was not lining the jacket. I made the jacket from a heavy-weight black twill, so I decided to topstitch the seams and leave it unlined.

Finally, I took the seams in by 1/2 inch each on both the front and back at the side seams between the armscye and the waist, as well as contouring the center back seam at the waist.

Once these items were finished, I had my contest entry ready.


I have (rather unimaginatively) titled the collection "From Monday Meeting to Tuesday Teaching to Casual Friday."

I wanted to create a collection that would address a number of work needs. I work at a university, but in a number of different capacities. I am the assistant director of our advising center, but also teach as an adjunct professor, so I need clothes for the office, but also the classroom. Our office falls at what could be described as "the more eclectic end of business casual," so I need clothes that can go from that environment, to committee meetings, to class lecture, to casual friday.

To this end, I made a total of nine pieces using eight patterns for my contest entry:

1. Tunic Sweater
2. Blue Knit Turtleneck
3. Skinny Jeans
4. Chanel-style Jacket
5. Grey Corduroy Pants
6. Print Draped Top
7. Khaki Twill Skirt
8. Grey Knit Turtleneck
9. Black Twill Blazer

Once I had the 9 pieces completed, I was able to combine them in a total of 24 ways:

1. Sweater tunic+blue turtleneck+skinny jeans (photo)
2. Blue turtleneck+skinny jeans (photo)
3. Print top+skinny jeans (photo)
4. Chanel-style jacket+blue turtleneck+grey cords (photo)
5. Print top+khaki skirt (photo)
6. Corduroy pants+print top+blazer (photo)
7. Khaki skirt+print top+blazer (photo)
8. Skinny jeans+grey turtleneck+Chanel-style jacket (photo)
9. Skinny jeans+grey turtleneck+sweater tunic (photo)
10. Jeans+grey turtleneck+blazer (photo)
11. Grey turtleneck+skinny jeans
12. Blue turtleneck+corduroy pants
13. Grey turtleneck+corduroy pants
14. Skinny jeans+print top+blazer
15. Corduroy pants+grey turtleneck+sweater tunic
16. Corduroy pants+blue turtleneck+sweater tunic
17. Corduroy pants+blue turtleneck+blazer
18. Corduroy pants+grey turtleneck+blazer
19. Corduroy pants+grey turtleneck+Chanel-style jacket
20. Skinny jeans+blue turtleneck+Chanel-style jacket
21. Corduroy pants+print top+blazer
22. Skirt+grey turtleneck+blazer
23. Blue turtleneck+skirt+blazer
24. Blue turtleneck+skirt

By using a variety of types of garments (jackets, pants, shirts, and a skirt) I was able to create a collection that could address both casual and dressier needs, as well as a collection that was comfortable for trekking across campus (rain, shine, or snow) for meetings or teaching class. My pieces could be worn with flats or with heels, boots or loafers, under a coat or layered with jackets or other toppers from the collection for warmer days. Most of the pieces were layered to address the variation in building temperatures (even in our own office suite, it can vary from my office, which has been described as "a terrarium," to our front desk where the reception staff all have space heaters under their desks).

In the end, I think that I was successful in creating a set using shades of blue, grey, and khaki that allowed for a variety of combinations that would address all of these needs. Because I used a number of neutrals (black, grey, khaki), I can further build off of this collection by incorporating additional colors (I have in my stash a number of fabrics in shades of purple that could easily build off of the greys in the base pieces in this collection).

This did pull me away from my SWAP for winter for a bit, but many of the SWAP pieces coordinate with the Endless Combinations pieces, especially the blue and grey.

So here is where I stand with my winter SWAP, the purple ones are the ones that are finished. The ones in blue are the pieces that could potentially coordinate with the Endless Combinations set:

1. Dark heather gray wool jersey (dress)
   
2. Wool blend flannel-Burda pants
   
3. Periwinkle charmeuse (shirt)
   
4. Grey/black print charmeuse (blouse with bow)
   
5. Black and grey herringbone suiting (lined pants)
   
6. White jersey knit-3 Graces Tee
   
7. Purple jersey knit with diamond pattern-Butterick 5525
   
8. Purple/ivory cotton shirting eliminated, replace with black and grey knit for McCall's 5978 twinset cardigan and New Look 6735 tee from leftovers
   
9. Heather gray knit (shirt)
   
10. Silk Tweed suiting (skirt)
    
11. Plum jersey knit-3 Graces Tee, also New Look 6735 Tee from leftovers
    
12. Black jersey knit Mighty Aphrodite Draped Tee
    
13. Black boiled wool knit-Cardigan/Jacket
14. Orchid stretch shirting-Butterick 5526
15. Plum and orchid striped jersey (shirt)
    
16. Gray cashmere wool suiting (pants)
17. Black rayon challis with purple/orange trim-Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Delicious Dress

Based on this, I should finish this winter with a well-coordinated wardrobe. Although I guarantee that at least one day in February I will stand in my closet and yell to no one in particular that "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!"