A Moneta Crop Top, a 3/4 Circle Skirt, and a Mammoth

A few weeks ago, one of my dearest friends who is getting married in the fall had all of her bridesmaids come to visit her in D.C., myself included. We went dress shopping, drank champagne, and burst into spontaneous yet choreographed song and dance at various times throughout the weekend [not really].

Since we all know that traveling provides some of the best sew-jo, naturally I had to make something to take with me. One of the items on the weekend's agenda was '90's night dancing [oh yes]. After much debate, I decided to leave my guitar pick & hemp choker and L.E.I. jeans behind; instead I went with a 3/4 circle skirt out of Robert Kaufman Radiance, which is a cotton/silk blend, and a knit crop top out of something from Joann's.

First let's talk about the top. Since the skirt fits at my natural waist, I didn't want to deal with tucking anything in, so I decided to make a crop top using the Colette Moneta dress pattern. I just cut and assembled the bodice pieces as usual [no alterations except for my personal fit]. Then I cut a band that was 2" shorter than the circumference of the bottom edge and double the finished width plus seam allowance. [Next time I might just do 1" shorter, it was a teensy bit snug.] I sewed the ends together to make a circle, folded it in half, and attached it to the bottom edge of the bodice. It worked out really well, and hits at the perfect place right above the skirt.

You know what's dumb, though? When it came time to wear my new crop top, I completely wimped out and wore a tank top under it. I used the convenient excuse that it was cold - it was cold - but if I'm being completely honest, it was also because I was nervous about feeling exposed or getting unwanted attention, and my social survival mammoth prevailed [read this article about the mammoth, it's good]. And it's silly, because I think the crop-top-high-waist thing looks great when other people do it, and I don't think anything of it. I guess when it's warmer I can try to beat the mammoth back into its cave and wear the crop top in all its croppy toppy glory. [How often does your social survival mammoth win?]

But anyway, a great time was had by all. Dances were danced, lyrics were screamed, the 90s were alive and well.

reenactment of said dancing

So on to the skirt. I didn't have enough fabric to make a full circle skirt, so that's why I went with the 3/4. I already had the fabric, so for the sake of being responsible I used it, even though it's a bit on the lightweight side. It also tends to wrinkle a lot in the back when I sit on it, which is a bummer but I suppose unavoidable. It is, however, shiny and drapey and beautiful. I hemmed with store bought bias tape - I wanted the stiffness to make the skirt bell out a little - and I hand stitched it so it wouldn't show from the outside.

And of course, there are POCKETS! And also a waistband and back invisible zip.

I'm sorry I made this face more than once in this post, feel free to punch me

I was a little pressed for time, so I looked for a 3/4 circle skirt tutorial online so I didn't have to figure anything out, but I didn't really find one. I'm not talking about the calculations, I mean how to go from that to a pattern and then to a skirt. So on Wednesday I'm going to post a tutorial for how I made my skirt in case anyone wants to know.

In the mean time, I'm gonna go have a talk with my mammoth.