Completed – Cat Lady Sewing Challenge 2-Piece Set-acular Extravaganza!

(Okay, okay: the title may have oversold this FO post, but whatever.)

After many weeks of occasional work, I have completed my Cat Lady Sewing Challenge outfit!

Early on, I decided to go a little…crazy. I wanted something kind of outrageous, but still wearable. I’m just weird enough that I could envision myself successfully wearing something covered in cats, so when I found this fabric I knew it had to be mine. I was also completely enthralled with and inspired by the 2-Piece Set-Acular over at Ada Spragg a couple of months ago, so when I had a snafu with my first attempt at the skirt I planned to make, I decided to salvage the material and make a crop top. Here is where things ended up:

Ta-da!

Crazy Cat Lady 2-Piece

Mysterious…or insane?

Skirt in focus

Mads, the cheeky bastard

I can honestly say that I’m really, really proud of this outfit, despite how unhinged it sort of is. The skirt has already been worn IRL several times since I finished it, and apart from being amusing is actually really wearable. The horsehair braid hem gives the quilting cotton a bit more body and structure, which ended up being perfect. The length is a total accident: I was going for mid-thigh, but wayyyyy underestimated how much I needed to remove. By the time I noticed, the braid was attached and I was all, “Meh…” about having to undo that. But it works, I think, especially if I style it the way I have here with my boots and tights. And let’s not forget about THE BUTTON:

I mean, COME ON.

The crop top was created by chopping my Scout tee pattern off at the “Lengthen/Shorten” line. This SOB has seams EVERYWHERE because I cannibalized the fucked-up skirt to make it and had to get creative. So I have a center front seam, a center back seam, side seams, and a hem band. (That last bit was added to give me that extra 1/2″ of additional length, which I am glad to have; the proportion looks just how I had envisioned.) The 2nd photo above shows the Scout silhouette of the top–it’s very loose below the bust, but I love it!

I finished these things about 2 weeks ago, but just got around to taking photos today! I took advantage of the fact that this is probably one of the last days this year that I’ll be able to get away with the whole, “Do outdoor photos and wear sunglasses and lipstick so nobody can see you aren’t wearing any makeup” trick, so Tom and I went out to the back yard and did some photos. Honestly, he gets these really good shots of me, and I have no idea how he does it. None. But I’ll take it. (And no, I won’t share him. Sorry. =P)

Now, I wore these two pieces together just for this post–I will likely NEVER do that IRL unless it’s ironic. But I do actually like both pieces, so here is how I thought I might style the top. Warning: this series of photos is basically me doing a cat-itude impression…

Sup.

Not nearly cool enough to be standing like this…

Too cool (or bored) to care that I’m in a photo

Tom called this one, “Floating Jesus Cat Lady.” We both agreed it was genius.

Oh, are you still here?

High waisted pants + crop top = LOVE. I just wish this was something I could wear to work, because I adore it. But I’ll settle for wearing it in the wilds of Columbus instead.

So I had a really great time with this challenge. Thank you to Erin for coming up with such a cool and relaxed idea! All of the other makes I’ve seen for the challenge have been amazing–check out the Flickr group for more!