Quickie

On Sunday I made another skirt, using the same "pattern" as the other one...BUT this one was NOT silk. Everyone can exhale now in case you were holding your breath. Anyway, remember how I mentioned my obsession with Ikea, and how I'm mostly Swedish, and love modern design? Well, Marimekko has alot to do with all of the above (well except for making me part Swedish, that's because of my greatgrandparents) N-E-ways, my amazingly crafty and stylish Madre has been talking about this Marimekko person since forever. Madre loves to sew, loves Scandinavia, and loves design, and Marimekko was synonymous with all of these. Of course I find out that Marimekko isn't a single person much later in life (I still refer to Marimekko as a her), but have been drawn to their textile design since forever. Along with my introduction to FLW and The Fountainhead, Marimekko textiles were the catalyst that transformed me into a architecture and design fanatic. Not only that, but a modern one at that. Note: I don't like unnecessary adornments FYI EVER.

Ok, so I said this would be a quickie, and here it is. The skirt I made out of Marimekko LELO fabric (first designed in 1991) from the Crate and Barrel outlet here in Chicago. For....wait for it......4.5o a yard...and I used less than a yard for this skirt.
And the buttons were from the DIYODS show last weekend via the Chicago Craft Mafia, approx 5 cents a button. Wish you could tell how awesome they are....

Smooth as Silk

First off, after taking these pictures, I realize that I apparently still have my swimmer legs. oh and I am pale. Please ignore everything BUT the skirt.

grey houndstooth silk!

see those buttons?

This is the skirt I made based on a skirt I bought in LA last month. I had been thinking about this project ever since then. I realized that it couldn't be THAT hard to come up with my own pattern. Well, to be honest it really wasn't. I made up a muslin trial skirt one night in about an hour and a half then tried it the next night in the silk. As you may be aware, sewing with silk is like jumping up to skiing a black diamond after your first run on a blue. Just as you are feeling confident, you step a little too far out of the comfort zone and have to side step a few of the steepest slopes. And that is what happened to me.

Enough ski analogy, the cutting was hard, the fraying was unbelievable, and I was deathly afraid of snagging something. Plus I momentarily blacked out and sewed the waistband wrong and had to take out stitches (EEEK) and do it again. I also used this project to make my first buttonholes. Who does that? Obviously me, like I always say...Go big or go home.

Well, I am hooked, I loved when people complimented my skirt and I said "I MADE IT!! and its REAL silk, and its Ferragamo, and I got it for 6 dollars a yarddd!!" While that was more than 99% of the people wanted to hear, I loved the feeling. So hopefully there will be more skirts and hopefully a dress or too before summer!! :-)