working on the handmade wardrobe...

i know. more things for me. apparently i'm feeling a little self-indulgent lately. i promise i won't make a habit of it.

at top is a skirt you've seen a few glimpses of along the way. my attempt at something in the style of alabama chanin. i made a simple a-line skirt using another  skirt as a template, cut out in both purple jersey fabrics. as you can the back is longer - i was hoping the raised front would make it easier for tramping around through the woods and such. i sewed each of them separately and then put one inside the other so the seams lined up and faced 'in' to each other. then i created a simple foldover waist with just the dark purple. i top stitched along all the seams with a fagoting stitch to hold the two skirts together and give a decorative edge. for the feather stitching, i wasn't nearly so efficient as the folks at alabama. basically i made three different feathers that i cut out of some thin cardboard, and then traced them onto the fabric into a random pattern. i did this in stages, usually tracing, stitching, and cutting a few feathers at a time, rather than doing each stage all at once. yeah, not efficient at all. i had thought about doing the whole skirt, but in the end decided to just do a few scattered feathers drifting down into the 'pile' that circles the hem. i also trimmed the hem so that the dark purple is about a 1/4" shorter. all in all i like how it turned out, and i have infinite appreciation for the incredible handwork that goes into an alabama chanin piece.

the second dress is another tank from wiksten. i hadn't really planned on making another so soon, but this fabric jumped out at me the other day and i thought it would be perfect. you can see another shot of here - it is blue and grey with a few gold dots here and there, just my kind of colour scheme. i think the leftovers might be perfect for some whale bellies too, don't you think?

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erin made a comment on flickr the other day saying "good grief march" and i thought it was perfect. after a mild winter, this month has been quite a lion. after the wild storm of monday (in some area possibly the biggest in many years, did extensive damage, some folks still without power), things are snarling again today, including swirling sleet. here's hoping all the trees that might come down already did on monday. still, it's the kind of wind that makes me tense up a bit every time a large gust comes through, and cling tighter to my mug of tea as i watch the rain/snow thicken up and blow sideways.

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i may get another post in before then, but things will probably be a bit quiet around here until early next week. i am heading out tomorrow afternoon on a little weekend escape. quite likely i'll be posting snaps over at instagram if you want to see what i'm up to. wishing you all a great few days and hope to see you next week!