Celtic Dreams

In my last post I wrote about the fact that I post more blogs about my flying than I do the actual creative things I do. I am trying to do a better job of getting my pictures posted. This next week, I have a goal to post something each and every day. It's a goal, I'll do my best.

This past week I finished up a skirt I had started a couple of months ago. When I initially designed this skirt, I had something else in mind, but I made a mistake when I cut the fabric. Something I learned a long time ago is that most mistakes can be saved, somehow. In the end, my mistake created something I liked so much more. In fact, I like the skirt so much, I decided to recreate it in the red wool shown here. The yoke of the skirt is a normal yoke. Attached to it are eight panels. Each panel forms a box pleat at the yoke.

The hemline is where it gets interesting. I cut the hemline of each pleat on an angle. The angle is sewn and then turned up and tacked. By doing this, the skirt is instantly hemmed!

The top I have on in the first picture is a top I posted in a blog a while back. This top is also in this month's edition of Threads magazine. I will write more about this tomorrow. I bought the fabric for the top at the Needle Shop here in Chicago. It's a great piece of fabric. It has a two-way stretch so it works perfectly with the design. Typically you wouldn't have a plaid running all over the place, but I like how it works here. Once again, I realized that sometimes we should throw the rules out the window and just try it anyway.

I bought the fabric for the jacket at Joann's. Yes, Joann's. The fabric is quilted. On the front side is the plaid and on the reverse is a solid black fabric. To make the jacket I used Vogue 8483. The pattern is so simple to make. I really enjoyed putting it together.

It may be a little difficult to see, but the front of the jacket is cut on an angle. The drawing of the jacket shows the angle. I decided that I would like to have a zipper closing so I straightened out the angle.The zipper is sewn into the princessline seam on the left front and then into the opening edge on the right side. My plaids are not matched perfectly, but they aren't bad. It was a bit of a pain in the neck to get the plaids matched so that once it was zipped it would look passable. All in all I was happy with the outcome.

I like for everything to look as nice on the inside as it does on the outside. Just for fun I decided to bind all my seams in red seam binding. I have to give credit where credit is due. I didn't have enough to finish the jacket so my husband made the pilgrammage to Joann's for me. He is a saint, most of the time.

A little side note about the jacket pattern. The jacket is quite boxy. I did take it in a little at the waist, probably 3 inches in total and it could stand a little more. I also lengthened it about an inch and a half.

I have a very interesting heritage. I am Scot, Irish and American Indian. I would never claim one over the other. I am very proud of all of my ancestors who sacrificed so that now I can enjoy the life I have. A few years ago a friends' daughter got married in Ireland and asked us to attend. On our tour, we went to the town of Cove. It was from there that the immigrants left. I have joked in the past that my ancestors were in the rowboat behind the Mayflower. I learned that a rowboat would have been a step up from the vessel that brought them here. Many of the vessels broke apart at sea. I am so very thankful that my Celtic ancestors endured what they did. Now I can make pretty clothes just because I want to. I have a life that they would never have been able to imagine. My gratitude seems so small for all they did.