This post has the potential to deceive so let me just say at the outset, I have not been sewing of late (well, there is the tulle at the dance studio, but not in my own studio, which is where it really counts). I have been thinking a whole lot about sewing. I have been dreaming a whole lot about it. I have even been ordering fabric and printing out patterns as though I were sewing on a very regular basis these days. And despite what my calendar tells me, I have great hope still, of some sewing before the holidays. What can I say? I'm a bit of a Pollyanna and not afraid of owning up to that.
No, this handmade project has only come about as a result of the very chaos in which we are living right now. I sewed this little blouse back in the spring, late enough in the spring - early in the summer, really - so that it was just too much fabric for wearing at the time. I tucked it away, unworn, in the back of my closet where it was promptly forgotten about for a season. Until this very week, when I found myself digging back there looking for something to wear. This is a common theme around here these days. My washing machine is more often than not unplugged and sitting in my kitchen while construction carries on. I've come to realize that I am quite fine without a lot of appliances. Dishwasher? Don't want one. Furnace? Nah. Dryer? Not necessary. Oven? A bummer, but we can make it work. My washing machine? Dude! Don't mess with my washing machine! The most lovely (and they really are) contractors here might believe me to be a Crazy Lady with my frequent questions about just precisely when I can move it and plug that back in again. (Floor tiles? I don't care which ones we use! Just give me my washing machine back!). The laundry around these parts is a serious affair with seven of us working, playing, and farming here all day, and it's just one of those things that - when really behind on - can make me feel a little nutty. Do you know what I'm talking about? Of course you do. Or maybe it's just me.
Anyway. Moving on from the washing machine....I did happily find this nearly forgotten about shirt this week from the depths of my closet. All I remember about the fabric is that it's from Z Fabric in Portland. And the pattern is Lisette 2211. It was, I recall now, a very fun sewing project and a relatively quick one too. I had plans, I remember, to make a few more just like it, but in very different fabrics (chambray, yes?). Maybe I will do just that this fall with these bundles of fabric piling up in my studio. Of course, I'd have to wash the fabric first and that would require my washing machine. Wait. Am I talking about my washing machine again?
Back to the newly discovered shirt. I like it very much.