restingmotion

Last Year's Print, This Year's Skirt

Sunday night I decided I needed a skirt.  I didn't have any summer skirts in my closet, and it struck me that I should have a new skirt to go out to lunch with my sweetie on Tuesday (today).  And so I made one.

 

Fabric:  Anna Maria Horner printed cotton from the "Good Folks" collection.  I believe I bought this last year but it may have been the year before.  

 

Pattern:  Simplicity 4186, made many times before.

 

I was pretty amazed at how calmly  and methodically I just jumped back into sewing.  There was none of the angst that I experienced over the last couple of years, which goes to show that the inner turmoil was more about me and where I was in my life than it was about my sewing skills or lack thereof.

 

Granted it is a simple skirt.  But a year ago even simple things still seemed complicated.  I doubted myself and had no faith in the skills I had acquired over years of practice.

 

The gorey details:

I've made this skirt before, but there are no current versions of it in my closet as they are all too big.  It was easy to look at the pattern on my cutting table and discern that I needed to remove roughly six inches from the hips and 8 inches from the waist before cutting.  What was surprising was that I didn't dither, simply marking and cutting.

Otherwise the skirt was straightforward.  I didn't even look at the instructions.  The hem consists of a faced bottom band, the width of which was determined by the amount of length I needed to add to the original pattern.  I attached it to the skirt, under-stitched the seam allowance to the facing at the hem to keep the hem crisp and machine sewed the facing in place.    Aside from a momentary attack of ziplexia, construction was straightforward. 

 

It came out exactly as I imagined it.  It fits and looks nice.  It is the skirt I wanted to make, and in that sense I have no real complaints, but I think it is the skirt that was my style last year or the year before and it is not exactly my style now.  It is not the skirt I would make today if I were buying the fabric today.

 

That said I am happy with the outcome.  I set out to create something and the thing I created lived up to my expectations of it.  I refreshed my acquaintance with a skill-set that had seemed tenuous.  And I will wear the skirt and enjoy wearing the skirt.  It is comfortable, cool, and pretty.  It will definitely be this summer's skirt though, 'cause I don't know if it will stand the test of time.  It may well be trumped by future skirts. But for now it is this summer's first skirt, my first sewing project of 2011, and it is good.

 

A Change is Coming

I had to sew today.  I absolutely had to sew today.    And I have very little to show for it -- 12 little pieces of ribbon sewn on a stack of towels.  But for this I had to clear a corner of the table to set up the machine.  For this I had to empty out several boxes, cursing under my breath, as I wondered where I had put the power cord for the sewing machine.  But it was a significant gesture for me, an action filled with promise both because it required sewing, even if only in a temporary sort of space, and because putting new towels in the kitchen cabinet also is an act of promise on the home front as well.

 

Tomorrow is aide transfer day, a day I have been looking anticipating for a long long time.  I thought it would be today, but I learned that this was a misunderstanding.  I got the word from the current aide, that it would be Tuesday, although he now denies this.  I should not be surprised.  I remember the discussion well, but I would say that our soon to be ex care person has a tenuous grasp of facts.  I say this remembering how many times we argued last week about whether April 25th had been on Friday, as he insisted, or Monday.  But this is the least of it.  Suffice it to say that our aide is well meaning and has good intentions.  Also let it be known that good intentions are most emphatically not enough.

 

Although I have learned to take "common sense" with a, pardon the cliché, "grain of salt", I am constantly reminded of that old proverb, which G used to love to quote:

 

"He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool....Shun him."

 

In short, I can expect that people who grew up with different experiences to know and see the world differently than I.  I recognize that what I think of as "common knowledge" might not be at all common for those who grew up in wildly different environments.  But I do expect a certain ability to adapt, and ability to listen to explanations and to learn, and sensitivity to our wishes and the reasoning behind them.

 

 

Not that life will be perfect.  All problems will not disappear.  I do not expect this.  At this point I only hope for less stress.  That, in and of itself, will be a blessing.

 

I have learned that I do not suffer fools gladly, and the pressure to be kind and considerate and tolerant has been more difficult than I expected.  

 

But it is spring.  Beauty is around us.  I shall hope for better both from my spouse's next aide and from myself.

New Vogues

Well, the new patterns have been posted over at the Vogue website and I have been waiting for them since the magazine arrived despite the fact that I am still sorting through our accumulated possessions and don't yet have the sewing room actually set up.  Perhaps all I need is a little inspiration.

 

There are several patterns I adore and desperately wish I could make, but they would not look good on me and I don't have anyone to make them for, so they have been put aside.  There is no point in mooning over these things.  There were quite a few other choices that are far more suitable, such as these two dresses by Donna Karan:

Vogue 1219

Vogue 1220

 

And then there is another Donna Karan dress from the DKNY label:

Vogue 1221

 

Then there was some sportswear.  I picked this multi-sized pattern primarily for the interesting ruched sleeves, but the jacket also has other nice details, including the neckline and the peplum and it would be a good jacket for me overall.

Vogue 8718

Then there was another cute little top/jacket/layering piece, also with a peplum,  

 

and a nice little vest.

Vogue 1813

 

I'm actually far more interested in the shorter versions of the vest than the longer view, which completely opposite what the more youthful version of myself would have chosen.

 

And then since there is a sale for club BMV members, ending today, I also ordered a dress pattern from McCalls

McCalls 6279

 

At first I was going to get the Pamela Roland shirt dress in the Vogue pattern lineup, but when I went over to McCalls and saw this dress I knew this was the one, and I've already got a vision of how this dress will be made in my head.  I'm so happy that this pattern was available as the double breasted look has always been and remains one of my best looks.

 

Now I'm wondering if I can get the sewing table and the cutting table organized before the patterns arrive.