After spending the day painting at my mom's, I came home and finished the Burda 8053 top. The picture is a bit funky. I tend to lean on one foot more than the other while I'm waiting for pictures to be taken and so it skews the whole photo.

Anyway, I like this style, the whole crossover, shirred look. The only thing that didn't work for me was the hem. The sides of this top seem to flare at the sides. I think this is a combination of shirring and that this top is double faced in the front (it has both a full right panel and full left panel) and so they are not completely even at the hem (maybe the front panel is pulled over to far under from the inner panel?). Maybe it will relax a bit after a washing.

So even though the skirt didn't work out, this top goes really well with the tired skirt I just made. No pair this up with a cropped jean jacket and I'de be set!

Well, yesterday's horrible cutting of Burda 8053 overskirt has led into some major problems. Namely, the right front side of the skirt is noticably shorter than the left. I'm putting this aside for now, but undoubtably this will wind up in the trash. I'm going to start on the top and see how that goes, let's hope better.

I cut out Burda 8053 today. I started with the sheer overlay part of the skirt first, because if this wasn't going to turn out right, I was just going to scrap the whole skirt.

I think that I was in a bit of a hurry, because the overlay was cut a little wonkey - alright, a lot wonkey in parts. Since I've got so much stretch projects lined up, I thought that I had better invest in some Woolly Nylon. I picked up two spool and used them in the lower loopers of my serger and set it to make a rolled hem. I can't believe how amazing this thread is! It has so much stretch and makes a lovely rolled hem - I do have a few 'pokies' but I can fill these small parts in with a fabric marker and no one will be the wiser. I like this thread so much, I put a bid in on Ebay for so more. I'm sure that I will lose, but one can dream.

So, besides experimenting with Woolly Nylon, I'm also trying out some of that Jergens Natural Glow moisturizer. I got both the body and face versions in the lightest color. So we'll see if I look a bit more summery in a week. In the meantime, I stink. I smell like I'm using a self tanner. I looked on the Jergens site and they compare the smell to a day at the beach:

As the moisturizer works to darken the skin, some people may develop an unfamiliar smell on their skin, which is a part of the skin darkening process. Some people have told us that it smells like they have spent a day at the beach, and their skin smells warm & toasty. The fragrance in Jergens® natural glow FACE and Daily Moisturizer masks the smell for many of the consumers we tested on, but unfortunately, the smell is different from person to person and for a small group of consumers, they still find the smell comes through the fragrance.

I think I smell like burning chicken skin stuffed with flowers. Humm, now I'm getting hungry.......

When I first saw the 2006 Spring\Summer preview for Burda, this pattern immediately caught my eye. I maganged to spot some nice 'silky print' on clearence at Joann's for the skirt and some pink and black rayon\poly\lyca blends for the top(s). As much as I like all my fabrics, I hate working with stretch fabrics. I'm just not great at them. I'm hoping this project won't become a wadder.