Then the Skirt

I love this plum denim! In fact, I just bought 2 more yards to make some trousers. I might "need" more just because it sews up so nicely.

Slow Vines

I decided to machine stitch the veins in the leaves simply because I'd used this method on a quilt and liked how it turned out. I was hoping that I could do the vines in the same manner but nooooo, they looked pretty wimpy. So, I'm embroidering them by hand using the split stitch. I usually do this in front of the TV but since I haven't been watching lately, not much progress has been made. Yes, Miz Scattered is working on other projects. I hope to have the Japanese inspired tote up soon.

Story Skirt One "Leave Me Alone"

And so it begins. This is an 8 gore skirt using 2 brown fabrics that were remnants. I started buying remnants when my daughters were babies and 21 years later I'm still buying them. They also came in handy when I started quilting. This doesn't look like much, a bunch of scraps in leaf shapes stuck on a brown skirt. Well, this is only the beginning of the story! I used the pillowcase method of applique because I don't want the stiffness of double sided fusible since I'll be embroidering (by hand) though it. Next step after sewing down the leaves will be vines. Lots of 'em. Think Lord of the Rings.

The leaves are tears just welling under the surface but too angry? pent-up? to release. I rarely cry and too many times just want to be left alone.

Back to the Future

Ever have those days where you don't feel quite like yourself? I've been trying to re-connect the dots for the last 3 years and after reading this woman's blog I'm inspired to tell my own story in cloth. Well, I used to do that years ago but didn't realize it!

Instead of quilts, I'm telling my story in skirts. Less surface area to cover and hey, I like the fact they allow the wearer to make a public statement. Less blanket, more fashionista.

Anyway, I dug this one up from the archives. It's an old denim skirt embellished with embroidery and traveled with the Sulky challenge some years back. It's entitled "Home of the Brave" because we all know America was home to the Native American Indian braves. Uh, we used to be "land of the free" but that doesn't seem to apply in these troubled times.

All the embroidery is done on the machine, free motion style.