Winter weather really kicked in hard this week: snow, drizzle, ice and
temperatures below zero. My master plan for coping with this dismal
weather: get my hair cut to my (shorter) summer length and pull out
(ahem, buy new) lightweight fabric and start making summer clothes. As if
all this would somehow magically make the winter end sooner. Alas I
have to report my attempts so far have been dreadfully unsuccessful, it's
still cold and icy outside and on top of it I ended up with a mild
bladder infection.
Amended master plan: drink some icky tea to fight the infection and
continue sewing. My current project is a super cute skirt that combines a
striped jeans fabric with my newly discovered passion for yellow. I
used the yoke piece from the Burda magazine skirt pattern and drafted the
skirt pieces myself. I've designed it so that the left front section
will have a channel for two parallel grosgrain ribbon strings that can
be tied to achieve a ruched effect.
As an afterthought I decided to use some of the many buttons I've
accumulated over the years and sew a buttoned heart. The
first heart had all blue buttons which was nice but something was still
missing. In a flash of inspiration I decided to add one yellow button. I
got a really nice coconut button with yellow enamel.
.JPG) |
| blue mother of pearl buttons & yellow thread; yellow coconut button & blue thread |
I've also made an underlining using plain off white muslin. It is my
opinion the skirt will "sit" better with underlining. And since this is a
summer skirt, I wanted to make it very breathable so I opted for cotton
muslin instead of the classic poly/rayon lining.
 |
| right side of the skirt with yellow stitching |
 |
| inside the skirt, the white ribbon will be used to attach the underskirt to the ruched skirt piece |
.JPG)
I hope the wintery weather goes away soon and I hope the bladder infection goes away...I think it is hard to drink too much water when it is cold and so one is susceptible to these problems. I marvel at your sewing talents. Burda reminds me of my mom's sewing for us. How fun. I love your colors. This will be a great summer skirt. Get well soon! xx
ReplyDeleteBurda magazine is almost an institution here with now three or four generations of women who have used it to make garments and pass the knowledge along. I'm enjoying the more modern feel of recent issues which is more appropritate for my generation.
DeleteI had no idea Burda's been around that long!
DeleteSusan, the magazine company was founded in 1949. That's quite an era! And it's been the sole source of patterns and fashion trends and inspiration for the Central, Eastern and Southern Europe until recent years when the markets opened up for other pattern providers.
DeleteSo sorry to hear you're sick!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt you will appreciate the cotton under lining. I made myself a promise to myself to never use polyester again in anything I make.
Susan I've made and broke that promise so many times :-( the poly chiffon and lovely spray paint satin prints usually prove irresistible.
DeleteI'll keep my eye out for those fabrics and see if I know what you mean :).
DeleteWhat a beautiful skirt you are making; love the stripped fabric and the yellow ribbon is such a nice touch. Your have very advanced sewing skills to pull off a lining and ruching with a grosgrain ribbon!
ReplyDeleteI hope you will feel better soon, and the weather warms so you can wear the new skirt. BTW, what kind of tea is that you pictured? It looks like pumpkin seeds in the cup.
Sanda, thanks! The "icky" tea is made from a healing plant that cures bladder infection. I'm adding a Wiki link to the plant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctostaphylos_uva-ursi
Deletethe tea is very bitter and makes my hair stand up when drinking but it's extremely effective, so bottoms up!
Naughty you tempting the weather with short haircuts & thoughts of Summer! (just teasing).
ReplyDeleteDo hope you are feeling better for bravely drinking that 'tea'.
I would drink it also if it would chase 'black dog' away.The yellow edging is a master stroke
with the stripes....will eagerly await a photo of you in the skirt.
Keep warm and drinking.Ida x
Ida, the icky tea helped out and I feel much better today! Still dreaming of warmer weather but my sewing table is dedicated to making a last minute mardi gras costume
DeleteI hope the black dog is taking the day off today and you've got sunshiner and warm weather!
Winter finally arrived here as well. We've been getting significant snow every few days. I love it because I like to snowshoe but it certainly is not fun to drive in. The skirt looks super cute. Can't wait to see the finished piece. Hope you feel better soon. Drink lots of cranberry juice!
ReplyDeleteKelly, thanks for reminding me! I keep forgeting to buy cranberry tea. I agree with you winter sports are fun: I love to ski and ice skate and it's funt obe out ewalking in the snow covered countryside. But we've had some really bad wether over the weekends with rain and snow making it impossible to go outside which I suppose is the annoying part of winter.
DeleteHave fun snowshoeing, I hope you'll have some fun in the snow this coming weekend!