Just a walking cliché...

Yesterday, I took (okay, dragged) my younger sister to Hancock Fabric because I wanted metallic thread. Unbeknownst to us, Hancock was having a massive sale on summer fabrics, including linen.

Any woman worth her weight in salt has either owned or wanted a pair of linen pants/shorts or a skirt. Any sewer (I don't like the word "seamstress." It sounds like "mistress" + "seam-ripper") who's sewn more than a patch on a hole has worked with or wanted to work with linen. They "ooh" and "ahh" and swoon and faint over how soft it is and how soft it becomes after washing it. They like how versatile it is and how summery it feels.

I am not that sewer. Last April, I bought some linen the color of sunshine to make myself a skirt for Easter. I imagined my finished project to resemble a linen skirt I bought from Old Navy ($3!) five years ago (I still have the darn thing, too. I actually wore it to ICE). Well,...it didn't. The material pilled in some areas and was too thin in others. It wasn't soft AT ALL. (Then again, I'm a cotton/silk blend kinda gal.) I cut the pattern out, pinned it together, and put it in my pile to "get to" where it still humbly lies.

THIS linen, however, was 50% off--FIVE DOLLARS A YARD! How could I pass that up? It was navy blue and calling my name. "Helloooo, precciiiooooussss. I'm the exxaaaaccccttt shaaaaaddeee ooof bluuuuuue yooouuuu weeerreee loooookiiiiinnngg foooor! Tooouuuucchhhhh mmmeeeee.." So I did.

I'm so glad I did. This linen was 300x better than the first. I took less than half a yard and made my youngest sister a simple skirt with hidden pockets made from a fat quarter of Gaughin's Garden. The entire skirt cost about $3.50 to make. I love it. (She has a funny way of showing appreciation, so I'm not sure if she loves it as much as I do. I DO know that she'd begged me for a week to make her a skirt with pockets, then pitched a fit when I asked her to try the finished project on for size. And after the fit was pitched, she asked me to make her another skirt and a wallet. I think I'll focus on my other sister for a bit to see if SHE's more grateful.)

Again, I wish I had my camera, since I'm pretty proud of my pocket-making abilities (Thanks to a pattern in Weekend Sewing!)

Since I have over half a yard of this delicious fabric left, I think I'll attempt to make this now.

Happy crafting!

PS: How cute are these?!