a pocketful of LOVE

WHAT IS UP PARTY PEOPLE!!! CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP FOR ONE OF THE BEST WEEKENDS IN RECENT AMERICAN HISTORY?!! FLAGS CAME DOWN! BANS CAME DOWN! AND GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES YO, SO WHO KNOWS WHAT IS NEXT!!!!

I MEAN. FOR REAL. I'M TRYING TO STOP SHOUTING BUT I CAN'T. HOLD ON A MINUTE.

Okay, I've disengaged the caps lock. But I'm still hollering inside. 

This past weekend, I used every inch of the communal joy going around to make one of the loudest, happiest, silliest things I've ever stitched. My beloved janky store (39th street, red trim, handwritten closing signs up for the past five years) currently has three bolts of this Moschino print in stock. I went in last week for some regular old denim, and this stuff scream whispered at me from the back left corner of the store, burning itself into my brain until I went stomping back to snag a yard and a half.

This is the hacked bottom half to Salme's Yoke dress. The fit on the bodice gives me grief, but the skirt is perfection, especially when one flares it out a bit for a swoopier silhouette. As drafted, it's more fitted. I've made it with minor tweaks a ton of times. I used this momentous weekend as an excuse to try something I've always wanted to try on a skirt, but never did, due to the side eye it would surely incur from the Rugster...

CRAZY ASS HUGE STRUCTURAL HIP WIDENING PLEATED PATCH POCKETS.

And yes, when I walked out of the house in this, I got major side eye from my man, accompanied by an appreciative laughter that bubbled up uncontrollably. Got the same response from several complimentary ladies and gents on the street! If the print doesn't make you giggle the pockets will...

To be honest, size-wise they feel just about right for my gorilla paws. They held my phone, keys, and huge camera-- and that was only one pocket! It was like having an assistant ON MY CLOTHING! 

However, I took these shots solo...because....

THIS IS NOT A RUGGY SILHOUETTE.

That's okay, there's another guy in my life who is all in on this project. If you happen to follow me on instagram, you've seen the new purple man. I can't wait to introduce you to him properly, but for now we're having a secret love affair. 

This skirt was our first date, a getting-to-know-you make. A spiked coffee date, if you will. TNT pattern, lots of straight & topstitching, a buttonhole, and fun with bar tacks. And of course playing with mixed materials, as the top left corner shows: super soft home dec trim from Vardhman on 39th.

QUE DEMURE OONA! I caught myself mid-twirl here, and so did the bros at the gym across the street. Bros! Focus! Those abs aren't going to six pack themselves!

This is the skirt I make every Thanksgiving, usually in maxi length. And if this weekend wasn't cause for some Thanks-giving, I don't know what it. Man, we're a blip in time here in the scope of things. A mere 48 years ago, SCOTUS ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. UNDER FIFTY YEARS AGO. Does that not blow your mind? Pretty much ALL of my family was committing a crime, depending on where they set up their home & hearth. Where will we be fifty years from now? Hopefully shaking our heads bemusedly at how it took us so long to get to this next step. Hopefully in a country without pieces of cloth that remind us of how we are divided, rather than how we are human, and so very much alike.

Love. Might sound cheesy, but it's undeniable: we've got lots of that in common.