I started this skirt right before Easter I think. It sounds like it took a ridiculous amount of time, but there would be weeks that I didn’t even pick it up. I think this skirt is more like a knitting project than a sewing one (not as if I know anything about knitting), but it’s a slow going, watching tv kind of project like knitting is. Sometime the slow rhythm of the stitching would be comforting, but other times it would become tedious as hell.

It’s horrible working on something for so long and not knowing if it will fit at all, much less fit and be flattering. To make this skirt (the swing skirt from the Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin) you have to paint the design on the skirt, then hand stitch around each leaf, then cut out the leaf from the top fabric, then only after all of that can you sew the panels together and see if it fits. Whatever expectations I had about this skirt in the beginning were made even more unattainable by what the author tells you to do when you are preparing your thread for stitching:

“Loving” your thread infuses the work with kind intentions, but it’s also a very practical step that removes excess thread tension and prevents pesky knotting…Hold the doubled thread between your thumb and index finger, and run your fingers along it from the needle to the end of the loose tails while saying, “This thread is going to sew the most beautiful garment ever made.  The person who wears this garment…will bear it in health and happiness; it will bring joy and laughter.”

So there is much hope and good intention in my stitches, but it is not the most beautiful garment ever made. Though I feel a little bad saying that, as if I am hurting the skirt’s feelings, because well, I told her she would be the most beautiful garment ever made about a thousand times over as I threaded my needle and began to stitch. Look at that! talking to a skirt! going a little crazy over here. Maybe this skirt is the most beautiful garment in the world, but it’s only the skirt that knows it.

As I see it, the skirt is a little big. But maybe I’ll take it apart someday and take it in a little, but for now it’s fine–not the best thing in my closet, but the only one I’ve ever had a conversation with.

The reverse applique swing skirt from Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin has been on my to do list for so long now, so long that she has written and published a new book in the mean time. I thought I might be able to make this skirt in time for easter, but it is far from finished. I’m not quite sure if it will work anyway. I went to Joann’s to get the cotton jersey called for and of course they don’t carry cotton jersey.  Poopy Joann’s, almost without fail they will be out of or not stock exactly what I what I go there for.   So instead of cotton jersey I got two different fabrics: the blue is a knit interlock and the purple is a rayon jersey. I don’t know if the blue is stretchy enough. I thought maybe the super stretch rayon jersey would make up for it, but then the fabric paint I got at poopy Michaels is hard and scratchy and it might keep the fabric from stretching even more.  Michaels used to carry the nice jacard fabric paint, but they stopped and switched to the cheapy kind. I need to plan ahead so I won’t have to go to these damn stores.

So we’ll see if it works. I might have to make it all again, but it’s actually been kind of fun so far. And I love me some freezer paper stencils. Printing this pattern over and over really makes me want to print my own fabric (for what, meg? more projects, really you need more projects?).  It wouldn’t actually be that hard now that I’ve discovered the lazy man’s way to use stencils.

and now for the lazy man’s freezer paper tip:

When I was making this skirt I didn’t want to cut 20 or 30 leaf stencils, so I cut 3 and used them over and over again.  I couldn’t wait for the stencils to dry between uses (time is precious! the baby is napping!) so I put another piece of freezer paper over the stencil, plasticy side down, and ironed over both. Then I gently peeled the top freezer paper off and voila! the stencil was ready to use again. The paint was still wet on the stencil, but as long as there are not glops of it, it won’t come of or bleed onto your fabric. The stencil might come loose a little in places when you peel off the top sheet, but this is the lazy man’s way after all, if you want perfect, well then do it your way miss perfect.