A tale of two quilts

Very unflattering back photo - but check out the exposed zipper!

Some years ago my Mother In Law gave my husband a quilted jacket that swamped even his 6'3 frame. Sometimes we'd wear it around the house because it was so darn big and warm, but in spite if its' cosiness we called it the 'Ugly jacket' because it made whoever was wearing it feel hideous. That's the power of clothes for you. Clothing is about far more than the practicalities of retaining body heat or preventing sunburn. Clothes impact our emotions and our mood and in the end my husband decided that the cosiness of the Ugly jacket did not win out over the feeling of sheer hideousness its wearer experienced whenever the thing touched his/her back. In the end my husband chucked the Ugly Jacket in the bin, deciding that it would be cruel to donate it to the op-shop. The cycle of feeling like a walking mattress had to be broken. Now.

So here I am in a quilted garment that makes me feel great. It was inspired by this seriously expensive quilted frock I spotted at Kuwaii. I began searching high and low for a navy quilted stretch fabric and discovered this one-off piece on Etsy. It's polyester so I must admit that it does get a little whiffy by the end of the day, but it is so cute and comfy that I am prepared to ignore increases in body odour. Not sure how others feel about this fact though...

I used two different patterns to create this stretchy sensation. The bodice is from Papercut's Sigma dress and the skirt is Gertie's pencil skirt from her first book 'Gertie's new book for better sewing.' They fit together perfectly and even the darts matched up. Bonus! I decided it would be fun to pop an exposed zipper on the back. I've never done one before but it's pretty easy. If you need help I followed the instructions on the Threads magazine website - I prefer step by step written instructions to YouTube tutorials and these ones are clear and easy to follow. Anyone got any favourite sewing tutorials they'd like to share?