This week I am working on a skirt to go along with my Marion Cardigan. There is a reason that many of my update photos in previous posts have had this fabric as the back drop. They were meant to go together. I acquired this fabric from a friend who is moving out of state. It was passed on to her by her mother but may have originally been her grandmothers. I know very little about vintage fabric and am still too new to the game to know by the pattern what decade something was made in (if you have any guesses please let me know). The fact that the fabric width is only 36 inches makes me think that it might be 1940's. I've never come across fabric with that narrow of a width. Fabric rations being what they were during WWII, it would make sense for widths of fabrics to be narrower than they are today. Either way, I love it and new I wanted to make a skirt out of it.
Being the knitter that I am, I immediately took the fabric to the yarn shop to find just the right color yarn for a sweater to go with it. That is how the Marion cardigan project got started. But I leave the cardigan, for other posts.
I am not using a pattern, which I may or may not come to regret. Using patterns is very hard for me not having adequate work space. All that fiddling and fussing with HUGE pattern pages and cutting them all out while they are sprawled out on the floor is just impossible with my back issues. As it is I could barely manage to get the 4 pieces of this skirt cut out before I took a 30 min heating pad break. But hey, pattern or no pattern, I was able to get some pleats in the front and back fairly even and centered. I'm considering that a win. I was thinking that I would do a simple button closure, which is why there is extra waist band on one side. Oh yeah, I also did a waist casing which I usually don't do. Simplicity is key with me so the majority of my circle skirts have think elastic bands. Since this isn't a circle skirt, just a simple pleated A-line, I wanted to try a casing. Now, I'm not sure that a button is the right choice as that means there will be an open slit under it. I'm contemplating doing a sort of afterthought zipper (is that possible?). I guess we'll see. I'm planning on going to Jo-Ann's tomorrow for a zipper, or maybe another way of closing it up. After the closure puzzle is solved, I only have the hem left to go. I would have loved to continue on with the hem but my back was not up for any more. Aside from rest (which I did), what could be better for back pain than a glass of wine and an amazing dessert?
I was lucky enough to go have dessert and a glass of wine with a great gal at Wolf Run Restaurant. They have amazing food, but for the money (it's not cheap and remember, I'm not working) I prefer to eat at home then go and enjoy a great glass of Malbec and one of there AMAZING desserts. This was the Cherry Amaretto Pie and it was just a small piece of heaven in my mouth.
Fall to me is hat season. I love vintage and vintage inspired hats. The hat I'm wearing is one that I made myself and wrote about here. It's from a pattern that I designed myself and is for sale in my Ravelry Shop, or you can click on the picture over on the right side bar. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. It is first knit with 100% wool, then hand felted (I include a picture tutorial on the felting process in the pattern), from there you can decorate it however you like. I've made a few and absolutely love each of them. The decorating possibilities are endless.
Do you ever work without a pattern, whether it be sewing, knitting or other crafts? I've done it many times. Some projects are great successes and others, well um, I don't show many of those. Hopefully, this skirt will end up in the win column and you will get to see the final product. If not, well, lets just forget all about this post.
XOXO
Cherry
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