Saturday, July 14, 2012

Back in the Saddle

And back at the sewing machine.

The heat wave didn't exactly break, it just sagged down in a corner, exhausted from its own effort at trying to fry us all.  But the other night it was cool enough to get into the workroom for a couple of hours, and damn, but that felt GOOD!  It felt so good, I made a knit dress and a skirt.

Obviously during the time I was unable to sew, I was not going stitch-free.  I can't; the heat made me crazy enough, but taking all forms of needlework away from me isn't wise.

So I started embroidering again.  Mario's spaceship reminded me how much I enjoyed it once upon a time, and after PR Weekend I ordered Diana Rupp's book, Embroider Everything Workshop, which, if you're just starting out or need a refresher (as I certainly did) is a great book.  I'll do a full review soon if anyone's interested.

I decided to make an embroidered denim skirt.  We have jeans day every Friday now, and I don't do jeans in the summer and I'm tired of hearing that they finally relented and gave us jeans day, and hey, where's your denim?  This skirt is basically intended to say, "It's denim, get over it."

I found a nice remnant on the shelf, eyeballed it, decided it was enough to make a skirt and cut it in half.  I chose a design from Embroider Everything and transferred it to the denim and started stitching last weekend.  It was over 100 degrees on Saturday and I spent it in front of the fan, stitching a few miles of split stitch, satin stitch, leaf stitch and conquering the dreaded French knot.

Of course, being me, I got only so far before I decided to change the pattern.  The book's design is much more folk-art-tulips and I decided that wasn't the direction I wanted to go, so I used the stems and leaves and then changed the blossoms.  I stitched most of Saturday, in between runs to check on the chicken-cooling-system and emergency tomato watering, and I finished on Sunday.

Wednesday night, when I got to spend that quality time with my machine, it occurred to me there really might  not be enough denim to make a skirt.  Thankfully my panic was for nothing; there was just enough for the skirt and the yokes.  I got most of the skirt constructed Wednesday night and did the facings and hem last night.

I also managed to knock out a quickie knit dress that I wore to work on Thursday.  No photos of it on me, because I forgot.  So here it is on Evelyn, and it's one of those times where I can say in all honesty it looks better on me than on her.  But you get the idea.

It's KwikSew 3036, the kimono sleeve t-shirt that I just made, lengthened into a dress.  Fabric from Metro Textiles, PR Weekend 2012.  Nothing complicated, but like I said above, damn, it felt good to get back to it.

12 comments:

Linda L said...

Great job with the embroidery! This heat has been a real bummer!

Lorinda said...

The skirt is beautiful and so is the knit dress. Glad you are back to sewing!

Kyle said...

very cool skirt and embroidery.
nice solution to jeans friday.
:)

Debbie Cook said...

Nice skirt and dress. I'm with you about jeans Fridays too. I don't wear jeans a whole lot (we don't have much cold here) and dresses are so much cooler in the summer anyway. Plus I'm just old enough to feel jeans are still inappropriate at a law firm. I think everyone is finally used to NOT seeing me in jeans on Fridays.

Linda T said...

Really like that dress and the print is super! We are having the 100+ here but not the 110's that we had last summer. Hope the heat breaks for you and the chickens soon!

Irene said...

The embroidery is absolutely gorgeous! Such a lovely denim skirt.

Maryissewfast said...

Great projects to get back in the saddle! I love the hand embroidery. I must get back to that...having an embroidery machine has made me lazy! Thanks for the inspiration to get back in the studio...Mama needs a new top or dress or something!

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Oh there are so many goodies here! You've made me remember that I embroidered when I was younger too and I love how you added that handmade touch to your denim skirt. And the fabric choice makes the dress more than just a quickie...it's a quickie with style! *LOL* Glad you got to spend some quality time with your sewing machines.

Graca said...

The embroidery is a nice touch on the skirt (love your orange shoes too!). Good to hear that you scored some time sewing despite the heat. It is hot here too, I tried to get some hand stitching done outside to take advantage of the natural light but it didn't last too long. The heat just made it hard to breathe so it was back indoors.

gMarie said...

Love the embroidery added to the skirt. It's a lovely touch and nice gesture to their denim fridays.

As for the dress - I love the stripe placement. It's lovely. g

Rosie said...

Both garments are lovely. I love the embroidery on the skirt. It reminds me of when my Mom used to embroider my garments which always gave them that special touch. Beautiful work!

velosews said...

Both pieces are impressive.