So I decided to just sew. I had to clean off my sewing cabinet anyway – we made a heroic cleanup of the playroom this weekend – and since it was clear, I said “just fifteen minutes” which, you know, turns into an hour and a half. As this is the only time I can sew (after my kids are in bed), I just have to make a commitment and do it. It helps we did a late afternoon 15 mile bike ride, so I had lots of energy tonight.
I finished the Christine Jonson A-Line skirt. Which, as one reviewer on PR pointed out, in a matte jersey, this is not very A-line. Knee length and in a cute stretch woven, it definitely is, I’ve tried that sample on at Christine’s studio. But this version is long, and decidedly lean and curvy. I started this a few weeks ago, on an ill-fated, overworked, overstressed night, just looking to sew something, anything! And what is the world’s simplest paneled A-line skirt I serged, cut off and serged, cut off and serged for a third time just to assemble this skirt. It is NO fault of the instructions by the way, I was just a tired, overworked mom.
So I got to the hemming of this skirt, and it just wasn’t going well. I needed to use either the steam a seam or fusible web to do a traditional fold-and-stitch hem or do what I did, which is a serged rolled lettuce edge. In this slinky, now-two-sizes-smaller skirt, the lettuce edge rocks it. It’s lean, swishy, and will look marvy with a leather jacket and boots in a week (because fall is set to return early, starting end of the week). Tomorrow, though, I’m rocking this skirt with high heeled sandals and a black cap sleeved linen shirt.
I also finished a replacement black silk duppioni ring sling for myself (well, really for the baby, but you know, it’s not a gift.) Mine parted, dead across the middle of the sling, thank god I was just adjusting it and had my hand on his bottom, as it parted. I had dried it a couple times in the dryer, which really weakens the silk. Never put duppioni in the dryer unless you want it weaker. I think this silk is also lighter weight than I’ve used in the past, so I am going to have to care for this sling a bit more. Single layer duppioni slings are wonderful. I have one for summer, in a celadon green that I made a year ago, and it’s lovely. I had removed the pocket from this sling last winter, as it was impractical in such a lightweight sling. And I love it, use it all the time. But the black will be nice for fall/winter.
I’m just about to write a temporary review of the pattern on Pattern Review (until my phone decides it CAN connect to the internet and I can upload the photo I took to Flickr.)