Today was the first day of my prolonged holiday break--I don't go back to work until January 2nd. You can bet I have a whole lotta sewin' plans going on. I'll be happy if I even get a third done of what's in my head for the week.
I started off today by joining with some folks from church for a sew day of "Little Dresses for Africa," although I think, given the make-up of our congregation, we're planning on sending ours to Myanmar (Burma). But don't quote me on that--I was just there to sew, I'm not actually responsible for anything, a fact which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I warned the woman coordinating it: I'm a quilter, not a garment sewer. Don't expect much. 8th Grade Home-Ec trauma, doncha know. But the pattern was quite simple, and I have done a pocket or two in my life, so once someone explained the process to me, I was good to go.
Here's the irony--I went to sew but never actually did much sewing. There weren't enough machines to go around and it became apparent another young woman really wanted to learn how to sew. So I let her use my machine and she was in the very capable hands of another woman who is a talented garment sewer. I spent the day cutting fabric into dress pieces.
I mean, people--I was actually cutting fabric with scissors. I haven't used scissors to cut fabric in years! Where was my rotary cutter? Where were my rulers? Where was my cutting mat? I was going old school, baby. (We didn't even have "real" patterns--we were using posterboard templates made from tracing around sample dresses. Way old school.)
I was thrilled to donate two lengths of fabric I'd bought while in Hawaii a few years back--modern versions of traditional bark cloth. I had a project for them in my head at the time, but the project didn't come off and at this point, was unlikely ever to. On the other hand, the fabric would make great sundresses, so I was very happy to see them used for this. We cut up one of the two pieces (4 yards worth) while I was there. The other piece (also 4 yards) went back in the bin to get used next time.
I believe, if I were using the same rubric as Pam (for the Sunday Stash report), that would make it a total of 16 yards out of my stash because it counts double when it's donated, right? :-)
Although someone counted about 14 dresses sewn, I didn't sew any of them and ended up bringing one of the ones I'd cut out home to finish. But I'm okay with that. I was glad someone learned how to sew, and everyone seemed to have a good time.
Here's a gallery of pictures from the day. My sewing machine makes an appearance in one of them, as well as my Hawaiian fabric with the template on it ready for me to cut. If the gallery doesn't forward for you, just click on the picture--it should work. (If you're getting this by email, you might have to go to the website to see the gallery. Sorry!)
When I get the dress done, I'll post a picture. Right now it's a pile of fabric cut into odd shapes.
