Very occasionally, I do things other than take pictures of bugs, believe it or not!

(Actually, I do things other than take pictures of bugs a lot, but you couldn't tell from this blog up until now, could you?)

For example, I also sew. I splurged on fabric a bit this weekend - there were things that were on sale! And they were pretty. The following garments resulted:

This was pretty simple to make, despite being partially lined, due to the wonders of bias tape. I have recently discovered that I love bias tape - they should make it in more colors, though.

You can't tell from the picture, but that fabric has an all-over floral eyelet pattern (hence the need for lining). It's really pretty, and it's very fine, lightweight material, nicely cool and summery. You can really see where the lining ends in this picture, thanks to the back-lighting; it's not so obvious in more natural light.









What I Learned From Making This Skirt:
a.) Invisible zippers are an invention of the devil.
b.) Bias-cut linen is stretchier than you think.
c.) Invisible zippers are of Satan, seriously.
d.) Human beings are not symmetrical from front to back; it would be good to remember this when determining the length of front and back pieces of skirt.
e.) Invisible zippers? Pure evil.

. . . I did get the invisible zipper to work, after ripping out and re-stitching the lower-most portion of it three times, use of a few presser feet (not the invisible-zipper-installing presser foot) in ways not intended by their manufacturers, re-cutting the waistband, and signing something in blood that I think may have involved giving away my firstborn. But the zipper now works!

. . nearly-circular hems are also a little bit evil, but really, compared to the invisible zippers, they're small potatoes. The hem issue was solved by immoderate application of bias tape (did I mention I love bias tape?). The bias tape, sadly, was no match for the evil of the zipper. It could do nothing where the zipper was
concerned.

(But you can't see that zipper, can you? It's at the top of the center back. And it's all invisible and classy. But evil.)

The shirt being worn in the skirt picture was store-bought, not made by me. I can take no credit for the pretty curtains, either, which were picked out (and hemmed) by my mother (aka the person who taught me to sew - though she likes to use patterns, and I generally don't.) The person wearing the garments is me, and the various green things you see in the background are my collection of African Violets.