Not re-inventing the wheel, me

To keep myself up and awake after Himself left for the airport this morning at the usual ungodly hour (just a day trip so he took himself) I made a new skirt from a pair of old summer trousers. This is not the first time. It might not be the last.

I got a lot of use out of these during the Hong Kong stint. Siem Reap. Margaret River. Sham Shui Po. Great Wall. I wore ‘em everywhere

and wore ‘em out.  Being quite boxy, I thought they might do for a trouser to skirt refashion of which I have seen a number of variations. You know the one I mean: the cut off legs are turned 90 degrees and sewn back on the yoke. I want to say I saw something similar on Craftster recently. Bad IWOM. You must note these things down when you are going to borrow some inspiration.

After cutting off the legs and cutting them up the inner seams I took off the hems but left that knee-level side pocket for now. No reason.

 

I squared up the pieces

(make that rectangled up)

then had a think

while I got some garden work done. Then it started to rain. Summer in the Homeland.

The left side of the skirt pieces was sewn all the way down to become the center seam of the front and the right side sewn about half way down. I wanted a walking vent but was not sure how deep it needs to be.

I basted this together in case it didn’t come out like it looked in my head, but this was one of those times that theory and practice came out the same. The back lower edge dips down a bit

but I am okay with that. I’m going to have to take it in at the sides a bit and hem it but I was taught that you leave a dress or skirt to hang overnight before actually hemming it so that’s what I am doing.

Back to the fish:

which I traced so that I would have a pattern for the back. I have been mucking around with a strap but the fact of that matter is, the fish is too big as is to make a functional shoulder bag. I could big it up for a beach-carry all (which I may do eventually, though Himself and I are not beach people as a rule) or cut it down for a more practical (if a denim fish purse can be considered practical) city day out bag. The latter is what I wanted it for anyway.

 

Remember that pattern from the last post? I was thinking this sort of opening/built-in strap on the BACK of the fish so that the front could remain as is. Or, as is as it will be once I have trimmed it down. However, I picked up that pattern from the table and found the tie I promised Himself I would shorten so that had to take priority. Just as well. I’m not ready to cut the denim fish just yet.

Himself is not ready to give up this tie to the IWOM: the tie has lengthened somewhat over the years due to the soft weave and no matter what sort of knot he uses, the tie is just too long. Oi. Give me a real challenge!

 

I picked it apart at the center seam, trimmed about an inch and a quarter from each side, re-stitched it, tugged the ends and everything folded up properly. I even used the very same thread to baste the back together again. Quick press and that’s the IWOM owed a favour by her Better Half. Whatever I ask for, he’ll settle up ‘cause that’s the kind of guy he is. Given that we are off to London this weekend I can see a trip to Forbidden Planet on Shaftsbury Avenue for a few new books being a fair trade.

My second home:

the arrivals area of our local airport. I never like being late to collect Himself , so since the obscene parking charges are a work-related travel expense I leave once I see online that his flight has left and never worry about said fees. ‘Left’ of course means ‘left the gate’ in airport-speak so sometimes I spend a little more time in arrivals than I’d like.

When I know I am not going to remake a garment I’d rather have it get taken apart and put right into the correct fabric box. This brown tartan skirt is a). not my color and b). far too short anyway. It was found in that cedar chest in the basement of my grandmother’s house along with the ties and fabric shown in some of the previous posts. Unfinished, it had a clever and very neat seam down the middle which makes me think it was made from a remnant or scraps from another project:

Nonetheless, apart it will be taken. I have a number of pick-apart tasks so have popped them in a bag with a seam ripper to take along to the airport this afternoon.

I used to do this sort of thing ON planes — y’know, in the days when you could bring a seam ripper on board.

A fish without a bicycle

Just catching up my little brother’s website, what with Himself at a golf competition and me stuck inside due to a heavy rain shower. I need to find out if the new UK ‘pro-bike’ advert can be seen online so I can forward the link to Little Bro.  I don’t think either grown-ups OR fish need bikes. And I’m thinking it will be quite easy to talk Himself into fish suppers tonight. Clearly I have fish on the brain.

Don’t these scraps look like big goldfish crackers? They were leftover when I cut out those hats last month when I was visiting the country of my birth. It got me thinking about a pattern from many years ago so I dug it out one night earlier this week when I couldn’t sleep. I never sleep well without Himself, which kind of sucks since he works in London at least two days every week plus traipses about Europe to The Bank tax offices far too often.

(I should work on that. Maybe someday. In the meantime, yippee airmiles. Yippee hotel reward points. Yippee latest bonus and raise. Nope: that’s not working. What else can we try…).

I brought a bunch of worn denim back since my stock was getting low. Himself and I don’t go through as many pair of jeans as we used to but Mom, Dad and Little Bro – living on a farm as they do – go through plenty and save ‘em for yours IWOM-ly. Decent ones go to the Salvation Army. Obscene or unpatchable ones come home with me after I harvest them for what I need.

I stuck to two colors of denim so it wouldn’t get too fussy and patchwork-y. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (says the former quilting and fabric craft teacher).

I picked up this dead simple pattern a while back to teach a friend a few basics. Amazing how many people are taking up sewing for merely financial reasons (or ‘green’ because that’s currently what’s trendy and popular) then write whole blogs or articles about how it has changed their life/opened their eyes/doesn’t make them some sort of domestic slave throw-back. So long as they are finally in the fold, right? Even with a cheap or second hand machine, the initial layout is going to set you back a bit so it will be a while before a complete beginner breaks even. I mean, if I wanted to save money on clothes I’d buy LESS clothing before investing in a sewing machine.

But back to the fish, the seams for which are sewn RST -

The fish cushion pattern calls for wadding/batting but that will make the eventual hip bag far too puffy. I am not sure yet at this point if I am even going to line it given that the seams are going to be on the outside so they will fray and fluff a bit. The fins are 2 layers of denim

with the edges snipped a bit to help that fraying along then a little topstitching added for effect.

It might be a tad big but I need to figure out the back/pockets/strap before filleting this little guy:

I am also not sure about washing it then throwing it in the dryer for that fluffiness factor now, so I switched to figuring out how to make the strap.

Sometimes projects need to bubble on the back burner of my brain for a bit….

Naturally,

given the garden crisis over on the main blog, I decided to sort through all the items dumped in the craft room yesterday afternoon when we got home. It’s that or console myself with the box of Girl Scout Thin Mints my sister gave me. Himself was on the line with the Sky (satellite telly) people sorting out the repairs to the dish and system caused by the terrible winds the country had while we were away so I took care of the unpacking, which is usually his area. I don’t like to hear his work voice — the one that scares German tax regulators – so that task kept me out of earshot.

I left everything in a heap: notions and patterns acquired at much better prices than this dinky country,

plain fabric and denim, which took up most of the space allotted for crafts (a half suitcase, which is about one-eighth of the total space on a typical trip across the pond) and the blouse Mom gave me  to refashion:

 Yikes. I think she wanted to challenge me big time. 80s power blouse with shoulder pads to…what? Anybody got any ideas?