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Monday, June 23, 2014

Summer Love

Every once in awhile a fabric comes along that is just Love At First Sight.  That happened to me with this dark teal Liberty fabric a couple of years ago, with the unfortunate name 'Mitsi':


The thing about Liberty fabrics is they're obscenely expensive and they are usually a very, very thin cotton.  So unless you know exactly what you want to do with it, it doesn't feel like a wise investment.  Even if it's the purdiest thing you ever did see.  Even if all your friends want to date it too.  Even if it drives a really nice convertible and has a dog.

Being a rational person, I didn't buy Mitsi right away. But every few months I would cyber-stalk it, just to make sure SOMEONE  was still selling it. And a couple of months ago it seemed like it was starting to disappear - not a good sign when only Etsy sellers have stock left. I bought two yards without a plan. I would have always regretted it if I hadn't made my move.



This is the summer shirt I decided on.  I needed to do a tester because I didn't want to make a mistake with Mitsi, come off as overly enthusiastic.  so I did a first version for my sister with another voile favorite, Amy Butler's Josephine's Bouquet.


The back had this pretty tie to make it size-adjustable:


It came out nice enough, but was pretty roomy and the v-neck wasn't working with the sleeves so well.

So when I cut into Mitsi I went x-tra small (I know, if you've ever seen me in real life you can guess where this is going) and did a more tailored sleeveless version with the v-neck.

I didn't try it on until after I sewed in the arm and neck lining, because I thought Mitsi and I had an understanding.  I thought we were in this together.  I had no idea how uncomfortably tight it would be across the shoulders, or how the alignment of the v in the neck with the gathers at the waist would just be so, so wrong.



All to say, this is going to need to be un-sewn (and I used the tiniest stitches which will be hell to rip out), and maybe re-sewn without the pretty French seams, or repurposed altogether.  That's the end of my trying-to-sew-clothes phase for awhile. The girl totally burned me. The fantasy of matching sister shirts was nice while it lasted. I hear Sister Responsibly and Amy Butler are still going strong out in sunny California.



Luckily I've spent the last couple of weeks working on a much more successful project.  My first entirely paper-pieced quilt, full of some lovely new fabrics.  Maybe not Love-At-First Sight fabrics, but some Japanese cottons that were at least nice to hang out with.  I'll show it for real once it's shown some loyalty quilted.



7 comments:

  1. The Mitsi fabric reminds me of that flowered top I like so much that you wore under your lawyer suits. I'm also glad you re-learned that lesson you learned with a boy or two in SF back in the day.

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    1. Aw, I remember that shirt - I think it ended up with my sister, as all good shirts do. and p.s. that lesson is never really learned!

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  2. Clothing is always a tough one. I used to sew clothes for myself before I jumped on into the quilting wagon. I am planning to sew clothes this summer. Will have to see how it goes.

    I love this liberty print you choose. Recently fabric.com had some sale too,but other colorways in this prints. They were long gone before I wanted to buy. I hope you get to fix the neck line on this beautiful top. Meanwhile, great work on the paper pieced quilt. Can't wait for the big reveal!

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    1. I know, the disappointment in clothing is part of what drove me to quilting (although there can be disappointments there too, at least it doesn't have to FIT anyone). I'm definitely toying with buying a couple more yards on Etsy and trying again!

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  3. How can you call Mitsi an unfortunate name? Don't you have the same fond memories I do of "Tell me a Mitsi"?

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  4. This fabric is so wonderful! Dress looks lovely and chick! Great job!

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