White cotton/spandex jersey with a rayon print trim. Yep, regular fabric works just as well as lace. I made the skirt 3" longer on most of these.
Grey cotton/spandex jersey with a brown checked fabric. I also used some pink trim on the arm and neckline.
A 'tartan' check on grey jersey with a little bow on the neckline (shorter skirt).
Apparently this is Royal Stewart tartan. I think that it looks very dramatic and I have matched it here with black cotton/spandex jersey and black arm and neckline trim.
Charcoal cotton/lycra jersey, charcoal lace and an organza ribbon trim. For this version I used different lace and it frayed a bit so I edged the bottom with black organza ribbon, folded it up and sewed it to the right side. Done.
And sometimes I add a lovely little patch on the back:
Please excuse the Merchant and Mills type photography. The weather is pretty cold right now, and I didn't fancy lots of costume changes! I think that you can see the details a bit better as well when the undershirts are flat.
Well - how do they look as part of garments? Let me show you :)
Here is the Royal Stewart version with a charcoal grey McCalls 6168. I would wear this with black Peg Legs or some Tina Givens jeans.
And it works equally well with the cardi open, a pretty necklace and a scarf.
This time a burgundy cardi and my undershirt is under a light grey linen drapey top. Pearls and a short infinity cowl made from rayon fabric and done!
I think I will be wearing these two outfits to work next week. I remember that Carolyn from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic used to plan out a week's worth of garments including accessories (I can't find the posts now) and they were very inspirational, and such a great idea. No pondering what to wear in the mornings. Bonus!
So, what were the misses? Well, with one version I used some different black lace that I think had lycra or spandex in it.
Can you see all those little threads? I think that they are the spandex/lycra/elastane/whatever and washing and wearing had made them degenerate. That's a shame, but I'll take this lace off and add something else so not all is lost.
Here is the other one:
It is a little hard to capture in a photograph but the neck trim doesn't lay flat (this is one of my pet peeves). It is a matter of lovely trim, wrong application. It looks great on the neckline of a bra, but does not have the stretch for this jersey. Oh well. I'll cut this off too and add a different trim and this will work too!
I'd like to think that I am 'undershirted out', but let's be realistic - that's not going to happen!
