my favourite photo of this project - putting the invisible(ish!) zip into the new section at the back

Dearest sewing tribe!

after

before

Mmmm, life is yummy right now, and this is a great place to sew from! I've been feeling this rising energy around spring, full moon, getting my needlework in order, and both starting and finishing items that are meaningful and fun, beautiful and fulfilling... So here are some snaps of some of what I've been working on this week: the lush black skirt with exotic flowers on, blended with another bright fabric from a tiny dress, to make it fit a larger waist... And the poppers/ snaps/ automatici that I finally sewed into the top rim of my special cloud handbag.

after: I still have to correct the waistband - it was quite a wrestle to get the vertical folds to sit nicely, and then the waist was overall much-too-wide, and needed to curve inwards, as you see above...

The exotic fabric is one of many skirts that I like to buy on the 50c stall, which challenge me to widen them or make them bigger somehow. It was around a size 6 or 8 in UK sizes: really more like a modern young teenager's proportions, rather than an adult woman's! However, as you see in the top photo, it had long ties at the waist, which I took apart to make side-widening strips for it - yey! - they sit nicely into the original fabric:

the original skirt: taking out the old zip and starting to undo all the middle-back seam stitching

sewing in the side panels, made from the old belt-strips

I love seeing a really gorgeous fabric and grabbing it even when it is not a suitable garment: it is good to be still pushing myself to learn more and more - kind of 'cramming' my studies as I near the end of my Year One Of Needlework Mastery.

the second dress, for the contrasting widening strip of the black exotic flower skirt

taking the dress apart, to make a long strip for the back of the skirt

I like too, still following my own approach... Settling into the Way that works best for me, rather than trying to contrive a practise by following patterns. I totally get that following others' designs is a great shortcut, or it provides the necessary structure that a different creative might need - just, for me, I can only work intuitively; I'm multiple decades into a wholly instinctual approach, and cannot change course now! It's good to say this out loud, because a niggling subconscious kind of programmed whisper has been hounding me for a long time, telling me that my approach is 'stupid' or 'worthless' or 'no-one will want to wear it'. It is VERY good to put this whispering monkey out to pasture. And to get on with the creative work!

Working intuitively requires a particular kind of concentration of presence. It really is not possible to be partially-immersed! I need harmonious vibes and high positive energy around me, to be able to get to the end of anything. And if my emotions of head or stomach or anything are somewhere else, then the thread is likely to tangle, the seam to veer off-course, and/ or the machine to jam.

figuring out which zip might sit best on the new strip of fabric section, and still fit with the overall colour scheme

It is fascinating, how everything that we touch can teach us how to be more whole, calm, enlightened, by illustrating what happens when we are distracted... In the skirt, my attention was drawn to where I had been too tense in wanting to finish and see it all perfect - how ironic; it turned out squint! With the cloud bag poppers, they were very sliding-about as I was trying to secure them in precise places, to line up with each other; I reminded myself that rushing it (as exciting as it is to finish a project!) can go askew if I am not breathing deeply and assessing how the stitches are lining up: it is always prudent to check on the progress whilst in progress, rather than sprint along and then look back only at the end!

putting in a zip to the new back of the skirt

So I am learning a lot about calming my mind, focussing on goals, achieving a long-term vision. Musing on all of this today, I realised that I have been expecting a new clothing garment to come together like a painting, i.e. to be able to make a great sweeping stroke with my hand and a brush, and colour to perfectly settle where I just painted it... Hahah: it is a very different way of working, sewing rather than making visual art on canvas. And it is satisfying to be settling into my new career, finding each project - if not easier per se - at least it is decidely less panic-inducing to navigate.

the pinning of the final section going in

Perhaps I'm feeling a similar way about Life in general; less panic-inducing, as I grow older and master The Art Of Life too.

six poppers - one on each puff of the cloud! - so 12 halves sown in on slippery fabric!

Mmmm: are you feeling good about your learning curve in needlework? Is it a steep learning curve, or a shallow and ever-so-slowly-rising one?? Mine still feels a tad like crampons-and-ropes-up-a-vertical-rock-face, but there are moments where I get to rest and even turn around and look at the spectacular view... Yeh!

they weren't the white poppers like I was searching for high and low, but with the white thread, they turned out quite pleasing, for me!

LovE to you all, dear community!

www.claregaiasophia.com