Back before the pandemic, my friends surprised me with a Stonemountain gift card when I was having a bad day at work. I used it to buy some leopard print ponte with the plan of making a two piece suit to interview in–the power suit that would get me a new job.
Back in November, my agency got sold. Things are weird, but cautiously better with the new owner? He wanted to do an agency Christmas party. He spent a good amount of time in an all-hands meeting talking about what to wear to the party (cocktail attire) and said he’d be wearing a suit.
Bingo.
I pulled out the ponte and the patterns I’d had printed out for nearly two years and made a suit in a week:
It sounds impressive, but this wasn’t actual tailoring, of course–ponte is a knit and the pattern I used (the Evans Blazer from Hey June Handmade) was unlined, so it went fast. I tried to do some nice finishes inside but I also serged and topstiched a lot of seams down. (The pants were my standby Greenstyle Brassie Joggers, which I’ve made upwards of 20 times now, so they went fast too.)
This didn’t really fit the definition of “cocktail attire” for women but 1.) I’m not about to wear spaghetti straps around my coworkers and 2.) I refuse to be cold or uncomfortable any more for dressy events. Also 3.) screw your gender norms, if dudes can wear a suit, so can I.
I had fun making it, I had fun wearing it, and now I have a power suit JUST IN CASE I still need a new job.