Inspired by 
's glorious post this morning, I'm adding a wee bit of story to the beginning of my sharing...
I am layered and protected from the wild west Scottish weather, which is rousing a storm JUST behind me as I prepare the heaviest suitcase I ever travelled with, for the long journey home. Knowing that such weather is on my tail, and that my suitcase will be inconvenient to open (it is very tightly packed with treasures!) as I travel, and aware that we'll be crossing Alps and plains in one of the coldest weeks of the year, I will be cosily attired in three skirts, massive woollen legwarmers, and a gifted floor-length puffer jacket in golden brown...
I'm only popping to the compost heap for now, and the outfit minus the coat seems to function well for icy early morning air as the sun comes up at 9.15, and as I am nervously checking the ferry service status, seeing that they may cancel pretty much all the crossings today... F****************************k!
As well prepped as I am, I may be sitting and waiting (and sewing!) for more of the journey than I anticipated. Either way, I have to get off the island to meet my amazing artist friend Kate who is coming all the way down from north Scotland, and then to get my onward buses... Same as when I arrived: I'll be sitting in the waiting lounge with all my baggages and getting on whichever one leaves: I will not be staying another night, nor another moment other than what is very necessary, in my family home! More about that later.
...in the meantime...
big hooks and eyes, which I adjust my tartan skirt with, below...
Dearest Lovely Needleworkers!
one of two tops which I took apart and remade for more practical purposes: this one I sewed across the shoulders, and cut the back of the neck off, to make the plunging V at the front actually cover my breasts!
How is your new year going??? How are your creative projects?? As I post this, I'm packing threads and clothing, ideas and inspiration, and making my way towards the ferry port for another v e r y long journey back to Italy...
and this one, I covered the bow in beautiful yellow ribbon, which I got on the island in the great charity shop we have: I also took off some lovely layered sleeves, as they got in the way of winter layering!
I've worked on multiple small things this week, and have been doing one project in particular which is taking soooo many hours... that it is slowing me down and calming my mind sufficiently - during this terribly strenuous stay with my dad in my childhood home - that I am able to start thinking clearly again. In my clear thinking, I've been musing on how beautiful it is to s l o w d o w n rather than to speed up, as I gain mastery of sewing.
I'm binding some piping around the edges of a handbag which belonged to my stepmum, Margaret. It is a big thing to revisit an object that belonged to her, and to make it more functional and special. The original bag, made with Scottish tweed from the Outer Hebrides, was rather dulled by long-term use, and the straps and piping and the zip have all failed. A good quality bag like this should have been trimmed with leather, as this would fit with the level of natural materials... but the imitation leather is well on the way to disintegration - very messy with bits of rubbery black plastic coming off on one's hand when it is used. Yeuch!
this favourite skirt STILL didn't fit, even after multiple adjustments: this time I got it right, and added new buttons, which I got from my stepmum's sewing box..
So I want to make the bag neat and beautiful again: I ruminated over how to do this... with the materials I have to hand; not a hugely wide range. I thought of wrapping a ribbon or strip of material around the piping in particular, as it is the most glaringly unattractive, but decided it would be too fiddly...
they're mass-produced, but at least they're wooden, and look a wee bit hand-painted.....?
However the choice did lead to an extremely laborious series of sessions: hours and hours and hours of fairly hard work, getting a long needle through under the piping, with thin thread, doubled over, to cover and contain it all. After my first two days' at this, I only have the top on one side covered!
terrible quality of straps!
I was glad to have found a nice kind of pea-sea-green thread to begin with, and am super-excited to have a trip to the big Mandors' textiles shop in Glasgow, en route away from the island. This will be the first time I've been in a big haberdashery store in many, many years, and I cannot wait! Especially visiting it on Needlework Monday!
the beautiful strips I bought in the market in Guardia, which I found the perfect solution for!
I hope to possibly find the same thread again, as I just finished the reel. If I can get a ribbed ribbon, a zip and threads all the same colour, that'll be great - but I'm also thinking it will be nice to have two or even three colours, contrasting with the sombre colours in the tweed.
the piping too is shot...
Because I have such a long bus(es) journey coming up over the next days, I am happy to have a tremendously slow job to labour over! It does get easier to sew it, as I progress, but I am not speeding up at all. And this makes me think of conventional approaches to any kind of mastery, but perhaps in particular views towards dress-making expertise: the idea that we should be speeding up and churning garments out.
putting bigger hooks and eyes (pictured at the top) on my tartan skirt
As I am Living In Gift, and use relatively very few resources, I can invest much more time in my creative work; I am not working to 'dead'-lines or to others' demands, nor with a need to earn money. So I do not see speeding up as necessary - nor a desirable - goal. In fact, I feel more and more, as I delve further and further into dress-making as my daily practise, that I want to be more care-full with my stitching, my attention, my time and my energies.
the yellow ribbon to bring the bow on this top into focus
Plus, I'd rather fix and transform old things, than make new things: I want to be immersed in re-using, re-claiming, re-constructing mostly pure natural fabrics, rather than expending (relatively-speaking) vast resources on new and/ or unsustainable materials.
the edging completed, and a rip repaired to the top-right, also
If I was living from ego or business, striving or scarcity, I would have an internal struggle right now. I'd be unable to rest into my work, if my mind were stretched out into concerns about money, time, resources being scarce...
the broken zip: it is a strange thing to me, that 'quality' bags like this night be equipped with inferior zips, and only made to last for a few years... I like to think of a bag lasting a lifetime
It is a great pleasure, instead, to invest all these hours, mine freely to 'spend', on such a commitment as this; it is not a project that will necessarily make me money - even if I did want to sell the bag - and in most peoples' eyes it would not be a worthwhile effort.
more new threads from the charity shop!
But to myself, I feel this calling to fix such an item, as I often feel a call to, just because it needs attention. Having little access to new things, and more access to lots of old things, this is a natural result; being surrounded by old things needing attention, my role is to give them attention.
the bag, before
I love this easy sacred geometry of needs and creativity, of things being nearby, and needing our help. It is such a joy to repair things, to make do and mend - and my time being all my own, I am able to be fully present in every project. I love making this my 'job'.
my current travelling sewing apparatus - joy!!
What do you feel about your work pace?
my favourite tartan skirt, many times adjusted, now perfect - AND ironed!
Do you love speeding along?
the repair mentioned before: caught it on a fence or something island-mountainside-related...
Or do your relish slowing down?
(bigger hooks and eyes should make for a more secure fit!)
Or are you somewhere in the middle?
my travelling dress: I'll get my friend Kate in Glasgow to take a better photo of it, on
I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings around work pace, and your vision of your future sewing...
my best buy in the charity shop: what appears to be two cards of glorious blue silk thread!
I'm beginning to envision my own longer-term future - and it feels V E R Y s l o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o w. Piano-piano back to the light, the warmth, the comfort, the peace and the joy of my own home!
