Mad for Plaid - PR&P

My love for gingham is well documented at this point, and as plaid could be considered a close cousin it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm a fan.  Yessiree...love me some plaid.  So I was pretty excited to sew along this week at Project Run and Play.

I went digging through my stash and came across these two.  Not enough of either for a full garment, but enough to do a little plaid-mixing.  And I feel so bold mixing a navy plaid and a black plaid -- livin' on the edge over here!!  ha! 

The neckline and sleeves are based on the Oliver & S Family Reunion Dress.  The rest is self drafted, and admittedly a little hodge-podged.

The entire top with the exception of the bottom two bands is lined with a super soft navy flannel (wool + baby skin = itchy & ouchy).

I knew I wanted it to be full so I cut and gathered quite a wide piece for the "skirt", and all was going fine...until I added the band.    

I hadn't considered how much stiffer it would make the hem and all of a sudden she was wearing a tent.  I don't have any good pictures of it, but I basically pinched in the sides to effectively pleat the band and sewed just through the bands making it slightly more bubble in shape.

After I took these pictures I also added a bit of a temporary drawstring to the very bottom band (hodge-podge, like I said - you can see it in action in the pictures of the top not being worn) but I'm not sure it adds/helps anything so it may or may not be staying.  I haven't ruled out additional tweaking.

This top feels both autumnal and academic (in the back-to-school way) to me - so you can imagine how pleased I was when she picked this wonderfully appropriate book herself.  We're on the same page, this girl & me.  At least for the moment...