needle & thREAD with Edith
/I have a confession to make.
I am a sewing lesson drop-out.
There. I said it.
I know, that wonderful book, right? It's not that I didn't intend to finish it. I did so want to graduate through each skill-building lesson. It's just that...Well, I couldn't help myself.
Really, it's not my fault.
It's all those patterns out there! They're the ones to blame. So darling! How could I resist?
It all started one morning when Elizabeth (She's really the one to blame!) and I were texting about sewing machines and she just happened to mention the 2-part video series on apparel sewing basics by Leisl Gibson of Oliver + S. (Oh, how I adore Oliver + S!)
In my mind there was nothing to do but download that first video. And that's exactly what I did. I watched and all those basic techniques, they didn't seem so hard. Just trace the pattern, cut the fabric, follow the directions and if I get stuck I can always revisit the technique on the video. What have I got to lose, I thought to myself.
So I took out my Oliver + S Music Box Jumper pattern (You see how I was doomed, already stashing patterns?) and a few yards of Anna Maria Horner's Field Study print, Mind's Eye in Toast (Yes, fabric too!) and began measuring Beatrix, my ever-so-willing-to-get-a-new-dress kind of girl.
I admit it. I was a little nervous. I even considered abandoning this whim, chalking it up to a moment of creative insanity. But that adorable pattern! It's only one out of four scissors on the difficulty scale, I said to myself. I can do this, right?
That's when I called Elizabeth.
And that's when she told me that this particular pattern, with its pleated skirt and that placket with all those buttons and holes to line up just so, it's not truly a beginner's pattern. Fair warning, but still she encouraged me to give it a try.
So I did.
Not too shabby for a drop-out, now is it?
I think it's safe to say that there's no turning back now. And I'm downright fighting the urge to order up every pattern in that collection. One at a time, Edith, one at a time.
(However, I did start another jumper for my daughter Margaret. This one's in Anna Maria Horner's Field Study print, Cell Structure in Americana. It's not quite finished. Still needs a hem and buttons. I do love it that the two jumpers coordinate, but aren't too matchy, matchy. Poor Beatrix won't have to wear the exact same jumper for years and years as Margaret passes hers down.)
As far as reading goes, I'm no better at one at a time with my books than I am with my sewing or knitting. I'm still reading Bleak House. Three hundred pages in, only seven hundred to go! I commited a grave literary sin and began watching the BBC Bleak House series with my husband--before finishing the book. Egad! (But it's so worth it! And it's available to stream instantly on Netflix.)
The girls and I finished Wuthering Heights. We all let out a disappointed sigh when we closed the cover on that one. So sad to come to the end of such a masterpiece. We talked for days and the girls and I all agreed that the movie versions completely miss the point of it. The greatest love story ever told? Yes. But the true story of love isn't about Catherine and Healthcliff. It's about the love of a mother that protects her daughter always and at all times, even from the grave. The girls and I were unanimous--the movie versions completely miss that.
To fill our Bronte-sized void, we began reading David Copperfield this week. More Dickens. I know.
But really, can anyone ever have too much Dickens?
~~~~
What about you? Are you starting to think Christmas gifts? Big plans for winter home dec? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.
