Watercolor Floral Spring Wedding Look

Me Made May and my cousin’s wedding coincided this year and I knew it was the perfect chance to make something fancy! I had a few parameters to help me plan out my wedding guest outfit: No dresses, it had to be simple, and it had to be comfortable.

After much back and forth and flip flopping (thank you to Michelle who handled all of my indecision with good humor), I landed on the Megan Nielson Axle Skirt in the watercolor floral crepe knit in the purple color way. I had my eye on this watercolor floral since it came into the shop for Sew Expo and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get my hands on some. 

Michelle suggested the Weekend Getaway Blouse from Liesel + Co to pair with the skirt. It was a perfect match for my simple but dressed up look I was aiming for. To complement the stunning floral of the skirt, I picked a solid orchid rayon batiste for the top. The fabric is light enough to keep an airy look, but opaque enough that there are no worries about wearing it unlined. 

Once I had FINALLY decided, sewing was pretty straight forward. Starting with the skirt, I chose version 3, the pencil skirt with a slit. I cut a size small after removing 4 inches above the slit (I’m 5’3” for reference). I decided to do some alterations on the fly after everything was cut and ready to go. The axle skirt is unlined and I was contemplating wearing some sort of slip or shapewear underneath to let me eat all the foods and still look good, but why not incorporate it into the skirt?

In my stash I have a bunch of powernet, so I cut out a second waistband, skirt front and back, shortening the skirt pieces to about 2” above the peak of the slit. Instead of folding the waistband piece in half as instructed, I kept the main fabric unfolded, essentially doubling the height of the waistband and turning it more into a yoga style ultra highwaist. I top stitched the waist band along the very top edge and again just below the originally designed waistband height. This gave me a spot to fold the waist band down if I wanted to.

I also ended up sewing the slit closed a further 2” as it was creeping into indecent territory when I tried it on. Looking back, I probably should have split my 4” length reduction to 2” above and 2” in the middle of the slit, but oh well! Last but not least, I used some seam stabilizer on the hem before top stitching using a twin needle. 

For the weekend getaway blouse, I decided to make a quick muslin. I wanted a nice loose fit to balance the tightness of the pencil skirt, so I cut a size 2, grading out to a size 6 at the hip based on the sizing measurements. Following the alteration instructions included with the pattern, I did a FBA of 3/4”, totaling 1-1/2” and the ease was perfect! I also did a 1” forward shoulder adjustment, took a small dart out of the new back shoulder seam and made sure to transfer any alterations to the facing pieces as well. 

With my muslin done, I made sure to prewash my rayon batiste twice to eliminate any shrinkage and began sewing! This blouse went together really quickly. Handling the fabric with care to reduce any distortion and making sure to test out needle sizes, stitch lengths and types made the whole process stress free.

Overall, I’m very happy with how the entire outfit turned out! It was exactly what I wanted, simple but dressy and super comfortable! It was the perfect pairing for my cousin’s wedding and I look forward to having both of these pieces in my me-made wardrobe this summer.

~Sam