Arena Ready

It’s Week 2.  Don’t forget to head over to Project Run and Play after you check out this post and go vote!  Designs inspired by childhood books was the theme that had us sitting at our machines barely coming up for air and sustenance.  Deciding on a book was rather challenging.  I don’t really have a memorable “children’s” book, however since I teach middle school I read a ton of young people novels.  I went with The Hunger Games.  I know kids I’ve taught will be sharing these books with their kids as they become adults.  I mean, who doesn’t love an action adventure with a hint of young love? Please.  I doesn’t get better than that friends.

So let’s get down to some details on my look this week.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, I designed a look inspired by Katniss and her attire from the Arena.  I have to start with the cargo skinny pants because they are my favorite piece of this look.  I started with the Blaycie skinny pants from Create Kids Couture as a base.  I added a yoke in the back, created my own pockets on the front, back, and down the side of the leg.  I also included a fun belt strap on one leg.  I love that that feature, it’s like a built-in tourniquet. These pants were made in olive green stretch twill I grabbed at JoAnn’s.

To go with the skinny cargos I designed a knit shirt.   I started with the Perfect 10 from Little Lizard King as my base.  I did some work to the neckline and then created a sleek blocking design with this fun textured athletic knit.  In the book, this would have been a black shirt, but I wanted some contrast between our jacket and the shirt.  This mix of gray and black did just that.  The black textured knit is totally trending right now in sports apparel.

I topped my look off with a raincoat.  I started with the April Showers pattern for this.  I removed the button placket and replaced that with a zipper.  I added my own pockets and a drawstring at the waist to bring in the waist a bit.  The laminate fabric I used was not especially friendly.  I tried the typical suggestion of covering my presser foot with tape to help with the fabric getting caught.  This did not solve my problem.  Instead, I slid paper between my fabric and my presser foot.  This was a huge help.  I highly recommend this strategy when working with laminated fabric.

Overall, I think this was an inspired look that can be carried into everyday wear.  In fact, my daughter is wearing her new raincoat to school today.  I love that I can make pieces that we get some good use out of.  Thanks for swinging by today, and don’t forget to head over to vote for your favorite look this week.