Stitchin' in My Kitchen

My eyes lit up when I saw this recent pattern release by Simplicity - I was super excited about 8214, which is a kind of retro-looking combo of top/dress/jumpsuit/pants. I have a couple of actual vintage dresses in my closet with a similar style.  I decided to start with view A, the below-the-knee dress. For my first pass at it I wanted to use a cute but inexpensive fabric, so I chose this navy polka dot peachskin fabric from Califabrics.  Well, first I googled 'peachskin' - it's just a polyester woven, but it doesn't really wrinkle and has a very nice drape if you're open to polyester in your life.  And the orange polka dots are seasonal for fall. I cut a size 12 based on the finished pattern measurements and I made a few minor changes to the pattern. It isn't very noticeable in the photos on the pattern envelope, but the front buttons down.  Since it fit over my head (like the Style Arc Holly blouse ) I just lapped one side of the front over the other ...

All I want to sew for fall/winter is jeans and blazers and jackets . I'm skirted-out, I guess.  I came across this photo a while back while checking out one of my favorite sites and really loved the entire look. I just love the long jacket over casual jeans and a t-shirt, and decided I wanted to make something similar.  Even though I think the bold stripe on that jacket is kind of what makes it, I decided to use some of the many yards of wool suiting I already had in my stash before trying to find a similar fabric.  I pulled 2 yards of this wool suiting from Mood out of my stash and some coordinating Bemberg rayon for the lining. I searched Etsy for a pattern I could use and come up with this gem from 1979: Oh yes.  Interestingly, they don't give you the yardage needed for just the long jacket - it's assumed you will make a jacket-skirt combo.  The 2 yards I had was just enough for the long version of the jacket.  The pattern was a size 12, bus...