Alaskan winter remix

Do you ever have an idea in your head for an outfit and but cannot/will not buy a pattern for it?  And then, did you take what you did have and cannibalize pieces from here and there and modify the rest?

Well, that is what I (Major Moma) did for this particular outfit for Abi.  I wanted to make her Christmas outfit to have an Alaskan winter feel for both aesthetics and in function.

I chose velvets in black and navy representing the dark winters when the sun barely is visible over the horizon.

And I wanted something very pretty and feminine but warm.  So instead of a dress, I made her a fancy cardigan and a pair of leggings.

family shot on Christmas Eve ... cropped down to the kids

And funny enough, Project Run and Play has started back up and the theme is winter wonderland inspired.

I used the Anywhere Dress by Go-To Patterns as the base pattern for the cardigan.  I made this dress before as a short sleeve dress and liked the way it looked.  To convert it into a cardigan, I cut the front as two pieces (instead of one on the fold) and added an inch to the center front for the facings.  I then shortened it to waist length.

I then made ruffles out of a sheer black organza with flocked velvet flowers.  There are three ruffles in total --- small medium and large.  I sewed the two larger ruffles to the bottom of the sweater and then took the small ruffle and sewed it to the top of the seam.

I then made a strip the length of the front of the cardigan to make a facing for the buttons.  Since we have beautiful views of the stars up in Alaska, I used sparkly crystal buttons down the front.

The leggings are from an old pattern my mother gave me.  It is Butterick 6362.  It totally reminded me of the 1990s.  The great part about the leggings in this pattern is that they are one piece.  So the only seams on the leg are on the inside.  They also are not super tight so they could be adapted to just be knit pants with a slim fit.  There is a vest as part of this pattern that I will review on another day.

I wish I had better pictures ... but none of them seemed to be turning out.  It was simply too cold to take them outside, so I had to settle for action shots at a glass museum we visited during our holiday break.  But hopefully you get the feel of how you can take a basic pattern and dress it up into something totally different.