The patterns that are always true*

Liminal: an adjective meaning something that occupies a transitional space, that space right at the border between something that was, and something that will be. Sewing is my meditation and my prayer, my best shot at just being.

Drawing and painting work that way for me too. But today I'm sewing. I'm sewing these pants, wonderful comfortable spring-like pants.

The fabric is linen in a narrow stripe that reads gray. The darker threads are blue but the effect is gray, I think. It is a lovely piece of fabric, perhaps a bit stiff for this billowy pattern, but that's OK. It works for me. Today. Now. I'm working hard to eliminate that thought, that cliche, do these pants make me look fat?

I added a patch pocket, as I often do to finished pants. I would never tuck in a blouse with these pants (or any others) and so I don't need a beautiful pocket, but I like a useful one. This sits close to the waistband and is almost invisible unless I use it. I'm not sure why, but I don't think of it until I've finished pants.

The pattern is the Hudson pants pattern from the Sewing Workshop, one I've used a lot. I haven't put the darts in, choosing instead to add an inverted pleat to each side.

I faced the hem with a 2" wide bias strip of cotton to give it a bit of weight.

I fussed a bit over the waistband, happily reworking it 3 times. The Hudson pants pattern includes a cut-on waistband. This is problematic because of the typical changes I make to accommodate my shape. The top edge of the pants is so off-grain that a cut-on waistband is hard to neatly fold. Why bother? This time, I remembered to eliminate it. I added a waistband cut with the lengthwise grain of this wonderful stripe.

Top is the Cottage Shirt.

The side seams are straight up and down, so I eliminated those too, making what Louise Cutting calls One Seams. 

 That's it. Just a comfortable pair of pants to wear today. Now.

Top is the MixIt Top

*This title comes from a recent (and challenging) post by Richard Rohr, alluding to the layered way I experience sewing. 

Now Sewing, for sure

Sarah Campbell
with a muslin she painted during my workshop

Welcome to the new world. It has now been a week since the corona virus changed the world. Of course, it's been coming for a while, but now we are all feeling it, I think. 

I hope you are safe and well and spending lots of time creatively. Sewing and other making keeps me sane and cheerful. So far. Perhaps you are finding that too.

Sarah has a fun sense of style. 

Like so many of you, I have a bit of a stash. Now is definitely the time to be sewing, isn't it. And I happen to have a few new pieces in said stash.

Striped linen, Japanese cotton crepe, plus two Sarah Campbell designs for Michael Miller

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to attend another Sew Kansas in Topeka with Linda Lee of The Sewing Workshop (TSW). This one was very special because Linda brought in the delightful and amazing Sarah Campbell from her home in England.

Sarah's design for Michael Miller fabrics

Sarah is a well-known print designer with impressive credentials. She and her sister Susan Collier created together for over 50 years before Susan died. They created prints for Liberty of London, for example. Lately, Sarah has created designs for home goods found in West Elm.

Another of Sarah's designs for Michael Miller fabrics

For an entire week we created pattern, as Sarah called it. We started with plain newsprint, then muslin, and finally some fabric of our choice from the Sewing Workshop. We played with shape and color and repetition, all areas where Sarah is expert. It was loads of fun.

one of my muslin pieces

For my workshop design, I chose some wonderful light gray linen from TSW. It is one of those really good linens. You know the kind. Perfect weight, soft after washing and drying, lovely to sew, and a dream to wear.

another of my painted muslin pieces

I chose the Cottage Shirt pattern for my workshop piece in the linen.

But then I got cold feet. So, instead of painting the linen, I painted my paint shirt. I needed more practice. It was a fun project without any worries or second guessing.

If you look carefully, you may be able to see that I spelled out my name.

You may have noticed that my aesthetic is a a bit different from Sarah's. I do love Sarah's wildly exuberant style but that kind of painting takes a lot more practice than I've had. And I'm OK with simpler designs, in general.

Linda Lee, Sarah Campbell, and me!

Next I began to paint on the linen. 

My idea was to rough-cut pieces that could be re-cut when I was home. It was not a bad idea, exactly, because it's a lot easier to manage small pieces in shared spaces. I did not have the actual pattern with me and so made rough guesses as to the size of the pieces, based on a finished sample from TSW. 

Once I was home and had washed and dried the pieces, I began to cut out the Cottage shirt. Except for the cuffs, nothing fit! I had to completely rethink the pattern placement. This is what I thought the front might look like. I thought I would make the Cottage as a pull-over, perhaps with a front placket.

Here is the actual front:

Likewise, here is what I thought the back would be:

And here is the actual back:

Something else happened that surprised me, but should not have. Maybe it's more accurate to say it disappointed me. The color faded quite dramatically. I feel certain that the color attached to whatever sizing was in the linen and then washed away.

It's finished now. But I may go back in and paint some more, now that the sizing is gone. I'm running a little experiment with a washed scrap so that I can compare the results You can see in the picture the pre-washed paint (black and red swirls at the bottom), and the new paint I added at home. We'll see!

For now, I'm quite happy with this piece. I really like the cottage shirt and the linen feels great. Of course, for now, I'm all dressed up with no place to go.