I spent the last week in New York visiting high school friends, eating some excellent food, enjoying the sunshine in Central Park with my sister and cousins, and getting on buses that took me in entirely the wrong direction. It was wonderful to see everyone and those poorly chosen buses brought me to parts of the city I’d never seen before (Like Queens. You know it’s the wrong bus when you start going over unexpected bridges.) Next time I need a bus map.
I love this hat. It was a present from my sister Isabel, who says she nearly kept it for herself. Actually, most of my outfit is her doing – the dress is hers too. It’s nice having a sister who leaves her clothes with me.
The weather’s been beautiful and warm here all week. Spring is here and we marked the change in season with a picnic. We went to the field where we used to play soccer, ate pears and cheese, and watched very young children kick around a ball that almost came up to their knees. Welcome, spring!
This skirt is more or less an apron. I made it years ago when I found all fasteners hard to put in and I wanted to make a skirt without any. Instead it just ties. There are two layers to the skirt (although it would work with one). The top layer is an apron: a rectangular piece of fabric long enough to wrap all the way around my body gathered to my waist size and sewn into a waistband with long ties at one end.
The bottom layer is sewn up along the side into an ordinary skirt. However, if it were the same size as the top layer it would be impossible to get on, so I added an extra eight inches or so which are not sewn into the waistband. This makes it easy to put the skirt on. When I tie up the side I tie in this end so it doesn’t gape. It’s a very simple summer skirt and was easy to make at a time when I didn’t like putting in zippers, buttons, or elastic.
