Next Steps

On Friday, I was busy off and on.  It was a race weekend so knitting was the Sock Monkey Cabin Blanket.  Again.  But make no mistake, I love this foolish blanket.  The lady who got the bug from me has knitted more than a few too.

There was sewing too and a weird bit of a revelation.  

 I pulled out the rest of the fabric that matches this top.  

I have always loved it. It was sewn for my epic adventure and worn frequently used since.  I had enough fabric left to make a skirt.  I hoped.  I knew it would be a close thing and because of that, I just never tried.  As my sewing ramped up, I felt maybe I could manage culottes from it.  You know how it goes.  Things get larger in memory.  They might have been a go if I wanted shorts but that was a no go, so skirt it is.  I took enough fabric off the length to make an adjustment I needed on top.  Originally, the top had a bit of too little ease across my bustline.  In order for it to feel good, I needed to add a little something.  

I added a four inch panel and made an inverted box pleat which I hope to add buttons to.  I had seen this on a store online and felt it might be a good way to work this added fabric, without emphasizing the seam of adding it.  It worked.  

So, here I am, with a complete new 'outfit' to wear.  Or apart.  Both pieces will work wonderfully with a plain piece worn bottom or top.  And here I am with a skirt!  

That kind of caught me off guard.  That I had a first skirt.  I wasn't thinking skirts at all.  Now that I do, I realized I had two pieces of fabric that would coordinate with the skirt and make it fit in with the rest of my things.  

I have two pieces of crinkly gauze type fabric that I have.  One is a taupeish tan and the other, a plain black.  I originally hoped to use it for a peasant style top  but there is not enough of it for that.  So I will make these fine fabrics into Torrens Box Tops.  The colours and textures will look wonderful worn with this skirt and with a pair of Glebe Pants I made from a lightweight patterned knit.  Both pieces are black and taupe/tan.  

And that revelation I talked about?  I'm starting to think about my clothes as a cohesive whole, a wardrobe of garments that work together.  This is a way of thinking I have not used since I did office work.  In this adventure I have focussed so hard on just adding patterns and colour and pants that I never thought farther than that.  I mean everything goes with black pants, right?  I have thought of shirts and little sweaters to wear together, but not coordinating several bottoms and tops.  

Except for once.  One time.  One time I fell for vibrant and dreamed that I might not have to wear black always, that I might have more outfits.   Maybe it is time to pull that out and  sew it because if I can start to see things in this new way, maybe it is time to try a next step.