"it was probably someone's curtains once."

My excuse to practice an invisible zip is now a skirt.

I'm really in love with the way this skirt turned out.  Coupled with fact that it also represents mastery of a skill that alluded me in my first Emery, it is a very happy-making garment, indeed. 

My mom noticed it today and knew right off that I had made it and that the fabric was vintage.  She said - in the very nicest way - "that fabric is probably as old as I am and it was probably someone's curtains once."  I think she is right on both counts.  To my armchair fashion historian's eye, it looks and feels like a late 1940s or early 1950s fabric.

My great grandmother actually made a few quilts with a very similar fabric and she was very much of the "make do and mend" era.  She also made wonderful winter wool quilts with old men's suits, so it seems likely that she would make the most out of home deco style fabrics too.  I can imagine this fabric as curtains or possibly cushion covers on patio furniture on a screen porch somewhere in the midwest.

It's just the sort of fabric you'd lounge around on at twilight in the summer, after dinner, drinking lemonade, watching fire flies, and listening to katydids gradually begin their nightly mantra.

At any rate, I believe the texture is the same as what is commonly referred to as "bark cloth".  It's cool and cottony, but heavy enough to be really sumptuous at the same time.  I found a yard of this fabric years ago at a thrift store and have been saving it for a something special for nearly a decade now.  It is supremely satisfying to see it transform from a small length of fabric buried at the bottom of a box, to a functional and fun garment. 

I discovered another happy surprise about this skirt last night too.  It has some beige bits that go very well with a finished object I have not yet blogged.  My variagated beige summer cardigan.

I finished the cardigan a couple of weeks ago, but I was a little disappointed in the button band, so I didn't blog about it right away and I hadn't even worn it yet.  I noticed last night that the two peices go together well and they are quite comfortable together too for a summer work outfit. Serendipity!

The yarn has also been in my stash for nearly a decade.  To see it come to fruition as a finished garment is rather magical.  It gives me a sense of closure to create something finished from these raw materials that I have managed to keep in my possession these last ten years. In the time since their acquisition, I've lived in many abodes across different states and countries & had all sorts of adventures, both good and bad.

I'm pleased I made garments I will wear, which also tie up loose ends to make more space in my stash for new fabric and yarn.  It feels liberating and exciting.