Last month I was so excited and fortunate to attend Tabitha Sewer's epic NYC Meetup. I had the mental plan for this outfit the second I saw the fabric at JoAnn's. Let's be real, ABBA is my lifeline and since I was just coming off my Mamma Mia! high I had to make this right.

I had the fabric mid-May, right around the time I found out that I'd be going to the meetup. I had the plan for it about a month before that when I first saw the fabric. I patterned and made the outfit within three days before I left for New York as I also met with clients and set everything up at home for my time away.

I made the crop top by fashioning a tube top to start off. Then I created the off-the-shoulder ruffle by multiplying the measurement taken around my shoulders by 1.75, gathering and stitching it down for about 6" in the center front and 4" in the center back. To keep it close-fitting and to allow the "sleeves" to move freely, I stitched down 1/4" wide elastic along the edge which also created those adorable gathers. Finishing it off was easy - just hemming it to a 3/4" seam allowance since I left the top and ruffle edges raw.

The pants took a little more fitting - I used a pair of leggings to fit my base pattern and cut them just below the knee. Then I asked my sister to measure the distance from that spot just below the knee to the ground so that I could cut four quarter-circles to create the bottom flares (each flare was half a circle). The waistband was a simple 3" wide band folded in half with a soft 1.5" elastic enclosed. Thankfully, I was able to make the entire pair of pants on my serger since I left the hem raw.

This fabric was sooo out of my comfort zone since I never really wore brighter colors before this. It was super easy to work with - a sort of double-knit with the base being a good, full-coverage knit and the second layer being the colored metallic foil.

Not gonna lie, walking through NYC in this had me feeling super awkward and self-conscious in the beginning. As I said before, color was always a foreign subject for me and strutting through New York in a clearly-70's-inspired outfit didn't put me at ease. MAN I felt awkward for nothing - I had tons of people complimenting me on it.

I had soooo much fun at Tabitha's meetup! I honestly felt as though we had known each other our whole lives! It was so great to finally meet all of these incredible and talented ladies in person after only knowing each other on Instagram for months, years, even meeting new people during the course of the evening. So many photos. So many laughs. So many incredible outfits. So much shop talk. So. Much. Dancing. (Yes I surprisingly danced. A lot.😂💃🏻)

After we finished at the meetup, I stopped for dinner on the way home and was approached by a male stylist who told me he loved my outfit and was shocked when I told him that I made it. I just knew I had to get a shoot in and I had the perfect place in mind.

Enter: The Rosé Mansion. It was an experience I'd definitely recommend going on if you love rosé and taking Instagram-worthy photos. The exhibit features tons of artists' work, wine tasting, and photo ops around every corner. While I went through, I met a group of girls who were gracious enough to include me and take photos and videos for me so special shoutout to them for taking photos!

Seriously, though, I adore this outfit and I'll have to make another out of similar fabric later down the line. Sadly, right after returning home I noticed that the foil had rubbed off in areas and the majority of the colors I had so fallen in love with faded to silver in patches all over. At least I got some great photos while it was still in good shape🤷🏻‍♀️

So your basic takeaway from this week's post should be this: Don't worry about standing out or feeling awkward because you're gonna look fabulous either way!