Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Life moves pretty fast...

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly."
~Ambrose Bierce


My parents came to visit this weekend. As mentioned in an earlier post, I am making Simplicity 4193 (the skirt and jacket) for my mother as a Christmas present.


I was able to get the "muslin" skirt basted together before she arrived and we fitted it to her. She's a short lady, so I had to cut off something like 3" from the bottom to get the right length. It seems to fit pretty good now, and it's ready to be deconstructed and cut out of the fashion fabric.
She actually really liked the pink butterfly fabric on the skirt, so once I cut the new pieces out of the fashion fabric I'm also going to reconstruct the "muslin" so she'll have 2 skirts!

I wasn't able to get the jacket put together before she left but I worked on it today. Here's the "finished" skirt (still the muslin) and as far as I've gotten on the jacket.


The jacket is HUGE! There's no way it's going to fit her. I think I'm going to have to make it a few sizes smaller. They're coming back for a very brief visit on Friday because my dad has gotten us great seats to see the shuttle launch. I had intended to have the "muslin" jacket done by then, but now since I have to basically redo the whole thing, I'm not so sure that's going to happen. Now I'm torn between starting to redo it and just leaving it as is so that she can at least get an idea of what it'll be like to make sure she's happy with her choice.

We did have time this weekend, though, to make a trip to Joann's and she picked out the fashion fabric for the skirt and the jacket. Here's what she chose:

a pink silk for the skirt and a gorgeous brown silk brocade with a turquoise, pink, and white paisley/flower pattern for the jacket. There's more turquoise than pink on the brocade, so the skirt will highlight the pink in the jacket quite nicely, I think.

It's interesting, when I was working on the muslin, I had almost no motivation to work on it. It was a chore and I just couldn't get excited about it. Now that we have the fashion fabric, though, I'm really excited about working on it, even the muslin! I'm quite amazed at how just having fun fabric for a project makes such a huge difference in my excitement and motivation for that project.

5 comments:

Gwen said...

I know exactly what you mean about the difference it makes to be working with beautiful fabric! And I agree - the fabric she chose for her Christmas outfit is beautiful! :)
Have a good week and I hope the shuttle launches on schedule for you and your family!

Anonymous said...

The fashion fabric she chose is gorgeous!! You are such a dear to make these garments for your mother. Imagine how proud she will be when she tells her friends that you made them for her!

Sue said...

Your Mum is very lucky that you are making her that lovely outfit!

Unknown said...

I completely agree... Many times my muslins don't even get made until I know the fabric the finished result will be made of...

And hello by the way. I am Sarah. I found this through the blogger's grapevine and it's cool to see what other people do. Love the page!

Anonymous said...

Christine, how is this project coming along?