Completed: Kitty Zinnia!

You know what I love almost as much as I love bike fabric?

KITTY FABRIC 😀 😀 😀

This ain’t just any ol’ cat fabric though – this is freaking silk chaurmeuse, all the way from LA.

When I was in NYC earlier this year, I mentioned to Trice how I was looking for non-quilting weight novelty fabrics – especially something with cats on it. Trice, being the sneaky lady she is, emailed me several months later and said she was going to send me something. I don’t know what I was expecting- but it was NOT this! I mean that in the best way, obviously. I love how the fabric isn’t super loud-in-your-face-cat-print (although, let’s be real – that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing), I love that it’s black and white, and I love that it’s fucking SILK CHAURMEUSE. What the what? Talk about an amazing gift from an amazing person!

I didn’t have a whole lot of fabric to work with – maybe a yard and a half, tops, and it was pretty narrow. A Colette Zinnia seemed like the perfect fit- I have a similar short, pleated silk skirt (I wore it in the photos for my Owls Sweater), and I wear it all the time, especially in the winter.

The Zinnia calls for a loooot of yardage, but I was able to barely eek by. I shortened the skirt by about 4″, which allowed it to fit on the narrow width of the fabric, and cut the pockets out of some bemberg rayon that I had in my stash. It was a close call for sure, but I made it work! I also cut it with the shiny side on the inside, because I thought the matte side looked a little less, I dunno… costumey?

Most of the sewing was pretty uneventful. I did have to lengthen the topstitching on the pleats – the pattern has them about 2.5″ deep, but the skirt looked suuuuuper floofy right about my hips, so I lengthened them a couple more inches and that helped. It’s still pretty floofy, but I mean- it’s a cat skirt. It’s already ridiculous enough, you know?

(Yep, my bra band totally gives me back fat hahaha. Actually, I probably have back fat too.)

I mean, LOOK HOW SWIRLY IT IS THO.

More kitties! Isn’t this seriously the coolest print? Everyone I told about it kind of gave me a weird look until I showed them a picture- and then even cat haters were all, “ooh I want me some of that!”

I obviously needed a cool top to go with my super cool skirt, so I made a quickie crop top to wear with it. This is the Closet Case Files Nettie, made in some rayon knit from Mood (leftover from this Jalie top from forever ago).

To crop the shirt, I just cut it along the bottom lengthen/shorten line. I had previously added 2″ length to my pattern, so that ended up being the perfect crop top length. I also tried my hand at widening the shoulders, since they are super narrow on me… I used a tutorial from Colette on shoulder adjustments, but I guess I didn’t add enough width because they’re still SUPER narrow. Unfortunately, I think this crop top has a very short lifespan in my closet because the shoulders are too narrow for it to be comfortable (the sleeves ride up as I move my arms and the shoulders raise and it just doesn’t look good). It’s pretty obvious in this picture how far the shoulder seam is from my shoulder – plus, the arm hole is still way too high. Gonna have to go back and retweak that pattern again, I guess. Ah well! Sewing!

Also, I know you can totally see my bra lumps through this shirt. DGAF.

It’s hard to see any detail at all in this print, but don’t say I didn’t try 🙂

Thanks again, Trice, for the amazing fabric! Guys, she also sent me a BUNCH of bra straps – which means I guess I better start exploring the world of sewing lingerie, yeah? Forreal, though, I just downloaded my first Ohhh Lulu bra pattern. Wish me luck!

What about you? Found any good (literal)animal print, lately?

Tags: cat fabric, completed, crop top, kitties, kitty cat, knit, knit fabric, Nettie, rayon, silk, skirt, top, Trice, Zinnia