anniversary of sorts, well, not really, just another day

SO.

EDIT: i wrote seven very long heavy weepy sad angry paragraphs above this on Nov 29th of last year. A few things have shifted, mostly in good ways, one in a VERY challenging way: it’s been THREE YEARS AND FIVE MONTHS since i first declared my intention of “re branding” my small business from natural dyeing and embroidery to making wearable art again. Do i have any credibility left after that amount of wasted time? (NOTE: it WAS NOT “wasted time”; it was grieving time for a very very tough two years, and then a year of soul searching, research, buying fabrics, and solidifying what i wanted to to with my life after losing the last of our cats, then my beloved husband, then my one of a kind mother and then my sweetheart dog , all in SIX weeks………………………………………………)

SO. Again.

Remember the 70s swirl skirts?

We were still ordering from the Sear’s catalogue, and i fell in love with this pattern. Mom agreed to help pay for the fabric as long as my babysitting money went to paying it back. I ordered the pattern, a pale minty green seersucker cotton and a beige with tiny flower groupings on it , (also cotton) and as soon as it arrived i was spreading it all out to cut on the living room floor.

It took me 2 days i think, to make the whole thing and then Mom checked to make sure the zipper was put in correctly. (Of course it was: she was the one who taught me!). I proudly wore it to high school (grade 11) the next day, with my little beige “poor man’s sweater” and happily twirled for my friends.

The second time i sewed one it was two black florals mid calf length, all done by hand because two months before my 17th birthday i had been booted out of the house and of course had no money for sewing machines. I also got the fabric from the local Sally Ann store for probably a whole dollar.

I LOVED those skirts. Trying to find the pattern has been difficult as there were various iterations from the Big4 pattern companies, and looking now for them the prices (plus shipping!) are OUTRAGEOUS.
So i drafted my own pattern today and it’s as close to this as i can get it. Getting the correct curves for the swirls *and* the right number of swirls had me pulling my hair out, but i can not WAIT to sew the first one.

So far i have pulled a leopard print, a gold lace, a red and black grid and am searching the stash for the 4th fabric, maybe a rose print, also in red! All cottons, except for the lace. Decided on mid calf length again as i am now prone to tripping on long skirts and full pants, much as i love them.

The black and white roses in this photo are slated for another project.

Another interpretation, the way we used to buy patterns as well, by mail through a newspaper or more rural “ladies magazine”!

I also bought myself not one but TWO toys, though they are the same except in size. Since my days at Capilano College’s Textile Art Program in the early 90s, i have lusted after a pleating machine. Through the years i’ve looked at them periodically and realized that $1000+ AND shipping AND currency exchange from far climes apparently, at horrendous prices was beyond my means. On June 14th for whatever reason i was looking again–like they were gonna get cheaper as time passed?????? HA, they did. I found a lady IN CANADA on Etsy who had JUST what i wanted for a third of the price AND very reasonable shipping from Manitoba, so i immediately hit BUY. AND guess what? Several hours later, an online friend down in Texas offered me another one, for the cost of the postage!!!!!! So now i have machines that are a 16 needle, and a 24 needle models! That mean i can do small, medium and large swathes of fabric depending on how many needles i use on each.

Above 24 needle capability (THANK YOU SARA!), below 16 needles (THANK YOU, MERMAID TAPESTRY):

Both came with extra needles which is fabulous because they are decidedly NOT cheap. Once you see the shape of them, you know why though…………!

I am NOT looking forward to practicing on them because i remember them being temperamental and fiddley, BUT i AM looking forward to being proficient on them and creating some marvellous pleated pieces . (By the way these are used by Smockers as well, something that at this point i have not much interest in.)

So, again, so i have decided that while i am still working on creating apparel for my re-branded wearable art business, of which you have cheerily seen none, and just accepted my word for, i will come back to blogging. I realized just today that i really miss it and i’m ready to get back in to it after starting 22 years ago in the blogging world!