Selfish Sewing: Jocole Pencil Skirt Dress

I'm not sure if Selfish Sewing Week at Imagine Gnats is over or not, but I wanted to share this dress regardless. I actually sewed it on Thursday, had Jason take some very hurried pictures of me on Friday, but after a busy weekend, I am just now blogging about it.

I'm not barefoot, just wearing my absolute favorite shoes in the world, nude flats. 

The dress is a mix of two Jocole patterns: The peplum top (without the peplum obviously) and the pencil skirt. The peplum instructions actually suggest attaching the pencil skirt as an option and I am so glad the idea was in the pattern. I love the result!

The fabric is a ponte knit from Joann with black dots on black. This is my first time sewing with ponte and it was fantastic. I love knits to begin with, but this took it up a notch in my book. It doesn't roll, is incredibly stable and is a nice heavy weight. And like all knits, it stretches making it so forgiving to sew with.

I was very impressed with Jocole's patterns. The instructions were great, including helpful instructions on how to lengthen/shorten the pattern. The top has six different sleeve lengths while the skirt has eight different length options. I will be sewing other variations of both sometime. I wish I could say sooner than later, but I have three kids that are needing some winter clothes.

I originally sewed this dress with the intent of wearing it to a mystery dinner this past weekend. However, they cancelled the show at the last minute. What a bummer. My friend who was supposed to come with me still came up to visit and we went shopping instead. Of course, besides super cheap $10 H&M skinny jeans, I bought nothing. This is the sewing curse, everything I liked I would telling myself I could just sew it instead. Now to go find the time...