'The Practice Skirt' - or, 'Well, it lived up to it's name'

During the week I decided that because I had no plans for this weekend it would be the weekend that I finished something I started last year.

When I first got my sewing machine and had the unfortunate skirt sewing experience with my Mum, I was bemoaning the difficulty of reading patterns and the picture on the front vs the finished product etc to the nice sewing ladies at work and one of them said she had done a pattern drafting course and was wanting to get back into pattern drafting so would measure me up and make me a simple pattern. Which she did because she is lovely.

She presented the pattern rolled up like a scroll with a purple ribbon which was very cute. And then she was trying to explain to me how the pattern as it is would make a straight skirt but if I wanted I could easily turn it into an A-line skirt. However, I was a bit slow to understand so she got a sheet of paper and made some cute little diagrams.

So that weekend, sometime last year, I decided instead of wasting any of my nice fabric I had bought on sale at Arthur Toye or had taken from Mum's, I would go to Spotlight and buy some calico and make a practice skirt, which I did. Of course there was confusion - the pattern didn't allow for seam allowance so I had to add that in when cutting the pieces out, I had to teach myself how to transfer darts from the pattern onto the fabric and then sew them (one again, thank you YouTube), and when it came to sewing the front piece to the back piece of the skirt I rang my Mum and was like 'I've done something really wrong and I can't understand what, they don't match up' (meaning the front piece was wider than the back piece at the top) and she nicely explained to me that my waist was not flat and neither was the skirt, to just pin the pieces together along the seam and I would see that it would fit me. So I did all that. And then I got to the zip and looked up 'how to insert a zip' on YouTube and got all these different explanations, some of which involved gluing and some basting and I didn't remember my Mum doing any of that so just pinned the zip into the side of the skirt and that was where it ended.

I took it into work and the sewing ladies explained how they inserted zips (they each had a different way), I showed my Mum the next time I saw her and she explained how she did it (which I think is how I've done it), and the skirt sat on the ironing board upstairs in our open plan lounge/kitchen/dining area for months. It saw the New Year in this way and suddenly during the week with an empty weekend ahead and the confidence of well-progressing hat behind me, I decided I would just give the zip a go and finish the damn thing.

Which I did. The zip is not pretty but it works, the skirt no longer fits me nicely (I'm blaming the fact that it's sewn now instead of just pinned like last time I tried it on rather than me gaining any weight or anything), the interfacing at the waist doesn't sit well, and the bit above the zip where I could put a hook and eye seems to have too much of a gap for a hook and eye to work properly. All in all, the skirt is a bit of a failure, which disappointed me because even though it was a practice skirt I had had visions of dyeing it or sewing some cool little buttons in the bottom right hand corner in an arty way or something and maybe wearing it a few times. But I really don't think that will be happening. It also sits quite high up on my waist which I think is the pattern more than anything I've done but I don't wear my skirts that high and really, all I want is a skirt that fits low across my hips!

However, I have decided to look on the bright side and embrace the idea of it being a practice skirt. The bright side includes:

I made a skirt all by myself, and while it's far from perfect, it's finished and it kind of fits me.

I finally inserted the zip and it's functioning even though it's not pretty.

I sewed darts and I think I did a really good job of them for a first-timer.

The hem is beautiful, I pinned it, checked in various places with the measuring tape to make sure it was even, and then when I sewed it, I sewed in such a straight line that when I came back to where I started the sewing machine needle was EXACTLY in line with the stitches I had done at the beginning. I was really proud of that!

The practice skirt lived up to it's name. It gave me the chance to practice a whole lot of stuff and made me figure out a whole lot of stuff myself (with the help of a phone call to Mum). And despite being quite embarrassed by the zip, I am going to take it into work tomorrow and show Ms. Pattern Drafter so that she can give me some tips on where I went wrong (mostly with the interfacing for the waist band - there's a gap on the non-zip side where there's no interfacing and I'm not sure what I should have done to make that not happen - and the zip) so that I know for next time I try to make a skirt.

It is disappointing though, I really enjoy the process and act of sewing (pinning the pattern, cutting out the pieces, and especially the actual sewing) but I somehow feel that I am not naturally good at it. One of my issues is that I have a real problem visualising something, like when it came time to sew the interfacing to the top of the skirt it took me a few minutes to figure out how to sew it so that when I turned it over it formed a nice seamed waistband. I had to actually pin it, get it wrong, and try again, I couldn't just step it out in my mind to figure it out.

That's one of the things I admire about my Dad as a builder, he has a great ability to visualise what something is going to look like, like when he built the house before the one they live in now, he would show us the floor plans and my step-Mum and I just couldn't visualise what the inside of the house would actually be like, even once it started being built and we were walking around on the foundations and when the framing went up.

So that's the story of the skirt. Today I am going to enjoy the fact that the heat and sun of yesterday have gone and it is windy and chilly by sitting and reading a book. I love weekends with no plans! Next weekend I have to work so I need to make the most of my free time today.

On the decrease

Last night, the decrease began. I could be finished this hat by the end of the weekend! Except I don't know what the last part of the instructions means:

"Cut colour B's tail, and thread it through the remaining 28 stitches. Pull tight and bring the tail to the inside and weave it in. Leave colour A coming out of the top of the hat."

Thread it through the remaining 28 stitches? My guess is that you cut the tail and put it through a darning needle and then pass the darning needle through the stitches while they are still on the knitting needle. But that is merely a guess and I don't trust myself enough to actually enact that guess with any confidence.

So I may have to get as far as that part and then take it to Monday night knitting circle and see if anyone can help me. The "pull tight and bring the tail to the inside and weave it in" makes me concerned as it makes me think that this pattern writer's inside is the actual inside, whereas my inside is the actual outside if you know what I mean...

Ahhh knitting, you are so cryptic.

Here is a photo of the hat in which it looks like it has big front teeth:

And here is a photo of the hat doing an impression of a Chinese latern:

As you may be able to tell, I have become rather attached to this hat so if I stuff it up right at the end it is going to upset me no end. I'm sure I won't though, this hat and I have come too far for it to go wrong now. I have faith in the hat (and the help of somebody, anybody, at Monday night knitting with more knitting knowledge than I have).

The only thing I bought at the Greytown Arts Festival (apart from food, I buy food so much I don't even count it as a purchase - and that is why my money disappears so mysteriously) was this:

My Dad grew up in Martinborough in the Wairarapa and he and my Mum bought a house there when they got married (my Mum was from Caterton, so she made the big move of about 30 minutes drive away from where she grew up). I was brought up there until I was 12 and my Dad's parents and younger brother still live there so I have pretty strong ties to it. So when I saw this badge I had to buy one for me and one for my sister (although hers doesn't have the clip part sewn to the back, it's just a patch, which I would have rather had as well but I liked the colours of this one better).

I love the Wairarapa.

Golden Hands

I got a bit of cabin fever being stuck inside all day on Saturday so in the afternoon my sister and I went to visit our two great aunts on my Dad's side. They live together in a house they had built which has a big room solely to hold their loom, sewing machines, spinning wheel, embroidery and craft supplies etc. They also have a huge garden with fruit trees, glass house, and vegetable patch.

I wish I had taken more interest in what they did when I was younger but I didn't see them very often as they lived in Auckland for a long time and only moved to the Wairarapa a few years ago. And of course, when I was young I thought all their weaving and spinning and embroidery was a bit boring. Now I realise just how skilled they are - one of them wove all the curtains in their house, their bedspreads and rugs are handmade, their embroidery adorns the walls, and a lot of their clothes are handmade including their 'for best' woven two-piece suits.

They are very patient though and now that I AM showing an interest in all things crafty, they are very helpful and supportive. I showed them my hat and they were very pleased that I was continuing my knitting. One of them had a bag full of things she thought I might like including patterns for dolls' dresses (following the dolls' cot blanket at Christmas), magazines about patchwork (from when I had said I wanted to get into quilting) and more but I had to be strong and say maybe I would take them another day as I really don't have room for more books until I get another bookshelf (it's on my 'to-do' list). I did however take this amazing book:

I say amazing not purely because of the content (although it does have some very useful things like an invisible cast-on method and instructions for all sorts of needlework and dressmaking) but also because of the blast-from-the-past 1970s nature of the photos and writing. For example:
7o's decor anyone? Matching brown and white curtains and tablecloth with little tassles, mmmm.

They certainly didn't sugar coat it in the dressmaking section 40 years ago...

'Coming to grips with your figure; Which type are you?; What is your problem?'

I think these days in magazines they phrase it a bit more like, 'How to dress best for your body shape' as opposed to the blunt 'Figure Problems' and give the shapes a friendly fruity spin - pear shaped, apple shaped - and of course, the classic 'hour glass curves' label.

But back in the 70s there was no time to be offended, you were too eager to suss out your figure problem, learn to adjust patterns to suit your body type, and rush off to make outfits such as these:
I love the fact that the woman who is standing by the fireplace is drinking sherry or something equally classy.

I can only dream that one day I too will have the skills to look like the women above and if I work hard on learning to read a pattern and get the basics right, I'll be able to knit one of these in beautiful cream, brown, and tan:

The blonde woman has to be wearing a wig, right? It has that lovely acrylic shimmer...

A perfect afternoon!

From when I arrived in Masterton at 6pm on Friday (having knit for 90 minutes straight on the train and made some excellent hat progress) until the early hours of Sunday morning, the rain DID NOT STOP. The driveway at my Dad and step-Mum's house was like a swimming pool on Saturday; the day was windy and generally awful. So Nana and I decided to wait until Sunday when the rain was supposed to be clearing to go to Greytown.

What a good decision! Although it began overcast, Sunday became a beautiful HOT day and we had a fantastic time visiting 6 of the 9 houses and gardens open to the public that had art, jewellery, sculpture, and crafts displayed. First, however, Hunter and I made 60 cupcakes...

We had made a batch the day before that quickly got eaten and as my sister was up from Christchurch to go to a day in a vineyard in Martinborough on Sunday with her friends for her 20th birthday (which is today, happy birthday Megan!) and was having a bbq for her birthday on Sunday night, Hunter decided we should make a double batch for the bbq. When I got home from Greytown, he and my Nana iced them while I made some potato salad and ambrosia (a dessert made of whipped cream, yoghurt, marshmellows, and chocolate). The finished cupcakes looked awesome and when we presented Megan with her birthday cake with candles that night, Hunter also presented her with a cupcake with a candle and she blew out both. It's so cute, he loves cooking and baking, I just hope it stays that way as he gets older!

And now, here are some photos from Greytown. It was just such an awesome day, Nana and I had a really great time.

A sock mobile at JOY of Yarn's Scarlet Oak Cottage (I met James and he was so lovely and he and his partner's cottage is really cute)

Toadstools at Scarlet Oak Cottage

A bunch of beautiful flowers at Scarlet Oak Cottage

We stopped and had afternoon tea at the Vintage Tea Rooms (I couldn't resist taking a photo with the Tui beer sign of the South Wairarapa Working Men's Club in the background, you can also see some of the knitting trail hanging from the awning). It was perfect - water in a funky tall jug with a slice of lemon in each glass, old china tea cups, a pot of tea each for Nana and I, fresh flowers on the tables, and warm scones with jam and cream (the beauty of modern technology - Nana said, 'Oh they're nice and warm - they must be freshly baked', I didn't want to suggest that it was more likely that they had been zapped in the microwave for 30 seconds..).

We sat at one of the tables outside, opposite a beautiful old building (well, old for New Zealand...) and you can see more of the knitting trail hanging down in the foreground.

More knitting on the footpath (I like to think the 'Caution' road sign is referring to the knitting)

And of course, some lovely houses, gardens, and sculptures. A perfect afternoon out!

All those lovely houses and gardens, it was like a window into another (very expensive) world...

I love a long weekend!

Annnnd back to raining. Although still warm - a little bit too warm last night and this morning. That muggy kind of yuckness. However, I am still quite happy for the long weekend to arrive. Big ups to Wellington Anniversary Day on Monday!

On Wednesday night I got some more knitting done so this is the hat as it now stands, or rather sags. It's getting a bit annoying now because the stitches seems to be sitting further apart on the needles (no, I haven't dropped any - I checked), I'm guessing because of the weight of what's dragging them down or something, and it's freaking me out that gravity might pull some off the ends of the needles. I'm supposed to be trying to worry less but knitting is not helping in this respect! Otherwise, so far so good. My Nana is going to be SO impressed.

(The Stripes up close and personal)

(the hat in general)

I'm hopefully going to get a good 90 minutes of knitting this afternoon/evening on the train. I'm going back to the Wairarapa for the weekend and am really excited because I'm going to go to the Greytown Arts Festival (I mentioned this is in my very first post). The weather is supposed to be rainy off and on over the weekend but oh well, a little bit of wet never hurt anyone (although Nana will be whipping out her brolly, she is coming with me and is always very careful not to get her perm wet!). James from JOY of Yarn has organised a whole lot of knitting related events over the weekend and while I'm definitely going to visit his knitting trail, I'll have to see whether I'm brave enough to join in with some of the other knitting activities. A full list of the knitting events at Scarlett Oak Cottage over the weekend can be found here on Ravelry.

Last night I was up until 11pm working hard on a little secret. If anything eventuates from it I will say more but until now, my lips are sealed (though my brain definitely wasn't closed last night, I didn't get to sleep until after midnight because it was whirring away and took ages to calm down after all my thinking! And then it was really muggy all night and I dreamed about having to babysit my former manager's new little baby and my former manager was giving me all these long involved instructions...which is completely opposite to the instructions he actually used to give me!).

Yay for a long weekend!

The view from my balcony

Summer was here for the day!

And so it grows

Stitch by stitch, row by row, it grows and grows...but there's still a long way to go. I have to get to 7 1/2 inches before I can start decreasing and it's currently only about 4 1/2 inches even though I spent a bit of time knitting yesterday afternoon as I was home sick from work (woke up at 2am with really bad stomach pain, not sure if my dinner didn't agree with me or what but it was really unpleasant, I won't go into more detail...) and then about an hour and a half at the knitting circle (I was feeling much better by 7pm and really, you'd have to be pretty sick not to be able to knit, right?).

The exciting news of the day at knitting was that Penny met Prince William. She had the day off work and decided to go along to the opening of the Supreme Court at which Prince William was doing official opening duties. Apparently a lot of people were there to see him when he first arrived but after he went inside to officially open the new building many left. Penny, however, waited around and was at the front when he came out again so she got to shake his hand and chat to the Prime Minister about the weather...probably a safe topic. I'm not particularly fussed with the Royal Family (a cute older lady I sit next to a work who's originally from Guernsey told me today she took an early lunch break yesterday - which is a big deal for her because she is very regimented with exactly when she pulls out her little red lunchbox with two ham sandwiches - and went to see Prince William; she was too far back to shake his hand but she got a photo on her cellphone and she proudly told me she has once seen the Queen) but I did think that if I randomly saw or met Prince William on the street I would very likely text my Mum straight away to tell her. Anyway, I think he's left Wellington now but he's very lucky as the weather put on a good show for him!