tiger time.

Where has the summer gone?!

I've barely had time to sew, much less blog... but I have been making things as time allows.

I wanted to make something special for my birthday, which was last week - this year, I really wanted to make something with a tiger print because I love tigers and July 29th is also International Tiger Day.  Tigers are very endangered in the wild and frequently mistreated in captivity - they really need advocacy and support to be able to come back to thriving & they are such noble and exquisite creatures that I fiercely wish to see them be protected and flourish.

I had some lovely Cotton + Steel tiger fabric from 2014 that I've been afraid to use till now.  I just didn't quite know what it wanted to be.  Then I saw another tiger print on sale on fabric.com that I could imagine making into a sun dress.  Then I happened across some Michael Miller tiger fabric on ebay for a steal. Then I saw some other Cotton + Steel tiger/heart fabric... and well... this happened.

But then not a lot else happened after that to make garments. Last weekend, I knew it was now or never... I just wanted one tiger thing ready to wear on my birthday... so I made the one thing I had in my head that I new I could trust - a Brumby with tiger pockets.

More on this later, when I get some proper photos together.  I forgot a lot of little details about how to cut the Brumby to my favorite length and put it together, so I got a bit organic in my problem solving a few places along the way.  It's more of a Brumby-inspired skirt than a Brumby-proper... but it has those perfectly lovely Brumby pockets.

I forgot to add 3 extra inches to get the wide hem and the length that I like for work... so I added a little strip of the selvage edge on the bottom and added a row of tiger fabric inside to create the hem.  I also forgot that the zip is installed into the skirt & the waistband... so I did a beautiful job of handpicking and topstitching the zipper in... then I realized that lovely wide waistband was not included in the fun, so I used the remaining strip of selvage that I'd cut for the hem, to make a thin waistband.  I actually really like the play of the vertical and horizontal stripes... so I'm okay with letting things happen.

Bad Selfie of my Birthday Skirt taken at work on ny b-day.

I also have a great Brumby waistband cut out already and enough of this ticking left for those big beautiful pockets, so I can make another contrasting Brumby with some plain cream denim I got at a thriftstore in Ukiah, CA on a trip earlier this month... so I am looking forward that too.

I've had a pretty stressful July, but things are winding down and I plan to enjoy some relaxing this week - so I'll be making more tiger garments... stay tuned for some proper pictures too. <3