J. Crew on a budget

When it comes to clothes, I don’t have much in the way of personal style. For years I let the Terry catalog dress me (hey, it was free and everything fit for the most part). But a girl cannot subsist in life on lycra and wicking fibers alone.

Which leads me to J. Crew. For the most part, I like their clothes. I cannot speak much about the quality, as I don’t really own too many items from them, but I like the designs. I also cannot fit into any of their things. I once bought a pencil skirt, button front shirt and V neck sweater from them for a job interview. The size 0 skirt and XS shirt and sweater were all way too big..in fact, according to J. Crew, my lovely fiance Andy is a size 0 and is tall enough to look much better in the pencil skirt than I do (ask me how I know this).

But I can sew now, so of course I’m going to try and recreate as many items as I can from ye olde J. Crew catalog in an attempt to build my wardrobe into something a respectable thirty something should own, instead of the abomination of thrift store sweaters, too big in the hips pants, and school girl skirts that have been festering in there since 1993 (yes, I still have clothes from my junior year of high school, and yes I can still fit into them).

Unfortunately, I no longer get the catalog, and I do not live near an actual J. Crew store, so any attempts made at ripping off copying their designs must be based solely on the photos available from their website. Usually, they do a great job of showing a garment from all angles so you get a feel for the fit and the details. But lately I’ve been having issues ‘looking’ at some of the things like suit jackets. When the only photograph of the front of a jacket involves the model with her hands in some inane bizarre pose, it doesn’t help me to decide if I want to buy copy said jacket.

The other problem I have with their website is their lack of suggestions on style tips for putting together an outfit. For example, they never, ever show any of their pants paired with a top. Which makes it kind of hard for me to decide, if I make pants B here, do I have a top that will go with them?

Specifically, I am talking about this little gem:

This is the “Jacquard Treasure Pant” from the spring 2009 collection. It retails for $258, and it’s sold out. It’s also lovely, and I decided that I had to have this, but not for $258. I had wanted to make these since the summer but my pants making skills were not at the required level to pull them off, nor did I have an appropriate pattern. Well, I’ve got the basic pants pattern done and I am mostly happy with my skills, so I went ahead and made a pair yesterday.

And they didn’t cost me anywhere near $258.
Fabric: some sort of synthetic poly blend gold-bronze brocade that was actually a curtain purchased at the Goodwill store for $2. I had to rip the lining out but ended up with probably 3 yards of 36″ wide fabric to work with.

Thread: Andy finally got around to cleaning out the junk drawer in the kitchen and found a brand new roll of some ancient Coats and Clark thread in a goldish color that was a perfect match.

Zipper: my friend Brittany went yardsaling one day this summer (and by that I mean the true definition of driving around to homes in which people have set items out on the front lawn for sale, and not the alternative definition of crashing in a bike race or down a ski slope) and bought a ton of fabric, patterns and notions for me for $4. Among the stuff was an assortment of 22″ neck zippers. One quick snip with the scissors and my 22″ neck zipper was now a 7″.

I decided to do the double welt pockets in a contrast fabric, and I had enough leftover citron gold swirl from my Vogue halter top project to use as trim. I liked the way that looked so I decided to trim the edges of my hem in it as well. Of course that meant spending something like 3 hours making the damn bias tape. I needed a button and I found a one that I had originally bought to go with some home decor fabric that was destined to become a jacket until I decided that it would be a really ugly jacket.

End result:

(yes, I am aware that the pants waistband and fly are pulling to my left side. I do have one leg that is 5/8″ longer than the other and things tend to sit funny on my hips. Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of the brown pants I made from the same pattern, and despite reversing the fly I have the same problem. I’m telling myself it’s my crooked hips and not my sewing that’s the problem here.

All for the price of about $5.
But now I am stuck. I have this awesome pair of little miss fancy pants, and I have no top to wear with it. Normally I would just look at what the catalog pairs it with and do something similar. But a quick glance at all of the website photos reveal what appears to be…

.. a gray T shirt.

Really, J. Crew? A thin gym class gray T shirt…to wear with your $258 Jacquard Treasure Pants?
Seriously…that is not going to work. I mean, even here in New Hampshire you won’t see a gym class gray T shirt paired with $258 brocade capris. You might see said capris paired with a hoodie and a pair of Crocs, but not a T shirt. We have standards.

So now I need to come up with an appropriate top to wear with this. I anticipate these pants being a staple in my spring/summer wardrobe (because when it’s 14F outside, you don’t wear capris and you don’t go without knee length thick wool socks). I don’t want to wear them with a boring black T shirt or turtleneck or black sweater..I need something different. And, I am currently taking a pattern drafting class that is supposed to culminate with a self designed blouse/top. And I have no clue what to design. Suggestions are more than welcome.