weekly photo challenge: carefree, or another harrowing peek into a mind creative

peachy watercolour rayon

Vogue 1236

From my favourite dictionary, which doesn’t list carefree, is care:

Care, n. [AS. caru, cearu; akin to OS. kara sorrow Goth. kara lament, and to Gr. voice. Not akin to cure. Cf. Chary.]  1. A burdensome sense of responsibility; trouble caused by onerous duties; anxiety; concern; solicitude.

What on earth is care-free about sewing???  Have been pondering the question since seeing last Friday’s subject.  This morning an idea appeared from Down Under…

Some of my favourite bloggers live in New Zealand, which has been experiencing earthquakes this summer (winter for them), the latest being this past weekend.  Have been anxiously watching for a new post to appear from one of them, and this morning one did.

After a harrowing account of her Friday commute home, she wrote about her weekend, including a lovely & carefree aspect of sewing:  periodic fabric stash visits.

Therefore, as me humble contribution to carefree (sewing), here’s a personalized selective view of My Fabric Stash.

Lying on my cutting table for several days has been the fabric above left, which has been sitting in my stash for… mmm, about 4 years.  A lovely rayon with excellent drape, I was thinking about using this pattern with it… however, scissors have yet to meet fabric, even though the pattern’s ready to pin in place.

I’m asking myself, is it really the hardware issues I’ve had to resolve this weekend that have stopped me… or another, better use of the fabric waiting just out of range of thought?  Serious question, folks, as there’s probably no more of this fabric to be found anywhere on the planet. (It sold out quickly.)

OK, maybe that’s not carefree to you, but compared to dealing with bits & pieces of something you wish you hadn’t cut up, it’s carefree!  After all, it’s not hurting anything just lying there, minding it’s own business whilst you plot & visualise to your heart’s content.

Then there’s the question of a quite new-to-me piece, from my lovely secret swap mate in the U.K.  About 1.5 metres, 44” wide, of soft napped corduroy – which affects how one must lay out a pattern. But we won’t go into the technicality of nap right now.  😉

red corduroy + blue pattern? OR… red corduroy + solid green??

Peppermint Cape from the Sewing School

McCall 8964 vintage blouses – a cowl (red)?

At first I thought I might line a short cape from this with another piece of rayon of about the same weight. But that blue has a pattern, and I’m not one to easily decide if  patterns will look right together, or fight.

I looked more closely at the red and noticed green leaves in the print.  Ahhhh – green!  Maybe a solid green rayon lining fabric would be better. On the other hand, this is a luscious bit of cotton, and I’d love to maybe make a snuggly winter blouse… if there’s enough…

Then there’s my neat drawer of other green fabric… this top green & black crinkle rayon was destined about 3 years ago to become this dress… then I thought about this… and am now totally undecided.  It’s the crinkle aspect that’s got me stumped. It will affect the fit…

stash: green fabric drawer

Loes Hinse’s Barcelona dress

Time ill spent?  No!  A quick & carefree exercise in creative thinking!

And the WordPress post…