Home at Last…

I am home.  If only for a couple of weeks.  I’m finally home.  And alone.  With a couple of weeks down time.  The gardens are glorious.  The weather is glorious.  My studio is glorious.  And I am exhausted.

I spent the last week hauling and moving and carrying and lifting, and doing the kinds of things we do for our children.  I loaded trucks, and cars, and drove hours across five states, and when all was said and done, my step niece has graduated, and moved to Massachusetts from Pennsylvania, and my daughter is now in her apartment in Massachusetts, moved in, though not completely unpacked. She has groceries and organization things from Bed Bath and Beyond, new sheets and a pillow,some kitchen supplies, stuff from Staples, stuff from Home Depot, and she is happy.  Note that she now has her loom back up in Mass.

Tuesday night we went off to WEBS to attend the Pioneer Valley Weavers Guild Meeting, where the speaker was Ruby Leslie, an old friend of mine whom I haven’t seen in awhile, she spoke about sampling, and Brianna got really charged when she saw a guild member pass around a length of cloth woven with embroidery floss for show and tell.  When last I spoke to my daughter, she was happily winding a warp with her stash of embroidery floss.  All is well.

And so, I’m laying low, just trying to do what makes me happy and rest up for the long summer ahead, of conferences and classes, and I have a huge desire to just sew something.  Anything.  I’ve started knitting another sock, and another sweater, but I really just need to sew something.  I’m puttering in the garden, and eating every meal I can outside, and picking fresh salad from the garden, but I really just need to sew something.

About six months ago, I pulled a plaid woolen from the shelf, someone had given it to me, it belonged to their aunt, or something like that.  I get gifted stashes of fabric when relatives of friends die.  Every once in awhile there is an interesting cut and I decided to make something with it.  I need a challenge…

I have this Issey Miyake pattern from Vogue, 1320 and I’ve been dying to try it.  I love Issey Miyake patterns.  I’ve made many over the years, they are sometimes challenging, and always educational, no one cuts patterns like Miyake, and often I feel like I’m making one big origami project that turns out to be a lovely garment.

I’ve made at least three of his patterns from handwoven fabric over the years, and some from commercial fabric (Vogue 1204).

First I cut the muslin.  I have an attic full of cast off cuts of fabric that I can use up for muslins, and I assembled the main body parts from a couple of remnants to get an idea of fit.  So far so good.  The large yoke, which is actually bias in shape in the front along with the upper sleeve, is a really interesting  design, I’ve never done anything quite like it.  Actually the two piece sleeve is pretty unusual as well.  This could be a really cool coat or a really ugly one, but I’m more interested in the style and construction, and if I really really love it when it is finished, I could see experimenting with this pattern and some handwoven.

I found a few remaining yards of my stash of Sibonne from the 60’s, in red, for the underlining, and I have of course, a gorgeous silk sari in red, that will make a lovely lining.  Matching this plaid with these odd shaped pieces and bias yoke and sleeve has been challenging.  I might have nailed it but I won’t actually know until I start assembling.

It feels good to take scissors to cloth…

Stay tuned…