O wow, I have missed writing my #needleworkmonday blogs these past weeks! There have been a ton of reasons that I’ve been both away from the sewing machine and without the necessary comforts to indulge in my sewing passion, but suffice to say we’re having a lovely break from the discomfort, and gaining some perspective around what we actually can do before (*during) winter!!

The cold is one impediment, but the damp too – I already found one beautiful fabric possibly/ temporarily ruined by mould: waaaahhhh! And the diffusion of different tools, fabrics, accessories; there are only so many new needles I can buy, when they appear to be in some other place than where I am looking….

This weekend @vincentnijman and I have been in Guardia Sanframondi sorting out the Arthouse – meeting with some altri stranieri, with a view to accessing a wider audience for it now that we are absolutely sure we want to sell it. So this makes organising the last of my belongings which are here, vital: putting our energies into the clearout, which involves a very large collection of lovely materials that have cumulated this past 1.5 decades.

I didn’t realise quite how much there was. There is a TON of fabric, old clothing, mostly great quality items and nice things in themselves, or at least with fabulous buttons or zips which I bought them specifically for.

And my favourite garments, which want some transformation, but not a huge deconstruction; like this marvellous set of dog-tooth-tweed-ish shorts – perfect, paired up with a heavy legging and some big old leg-warmers, for our new life in the wild mountains of Molise!

Way too small, though, and so requiring some new width. Which I gained, from a similarly-patterned skirt which was in the same box (of newly-organised fabrics). I cut some strips from the old skirt, and set them into the sides of the picked-apart shorts, so that they lined up nicely.

I also wanted to add pockets. Pocketless garments are way less practical, and our new life requires only the highest-utility-value clothing! I decided to make the new pockets in a contrasting fabric from a funky old (1970s??) night-dress. It was a really enjoyable experience, cutting the arms off the nightie, and shaping them for the opening that I’d left in the sides.

I added a kind of piping edging to the pockets, to reinforce them a little, and then adapted the sides so that they will open wider to be put on. A double-button closure finished them, and there was some hand-sewing to perfect the fit.

The last part is the sewing up of the hem. Which seemed to be longer at the back than the front, which doesn’t make sense, and must be to do with how the wool stretched when it was sewn with the machine. Either way, I had to shift the hemline of the added piece, so it would line up all the way around.
I really love the length of these shorts. And the weight of them. They cover a key core part of the body, meaning that I can wear slightly less sturdy clothing below them, knowing that my most sensitive parts of cosy! They’re pretty roomy too, which is great for layering in winter. And they move fabulously! I could do cartwheels, if I had (the space) to. But that’s more of a summer passtime.

I spent a good few hours sifting through bags and bags of unsorted clothing this week in Guardia: storing my needlework passion is a bit like sorting out photos on my laptop; in the time that new garments accumulate, they create new categories that I hadn’t thought of yet, and then I really have to create an opportunity like this one, to reassess what I have, and how best it can be arranged.

Phew! At least this is a relatively calming task, which in the end also brings tons of inspiration and satisfaction – even if it fills my nose with fibres and dust, and makes me a tad itchy! It’s great to take stock at this time of the year, and before making plans for transporting more stuff to our new land – where there truly is nowhere suitable to store it in. We may well have to buy our neighbour’s land, in order to house both us and the fabric store (as @vincentnijman is writing about this week).

Sending you all great love and all good things in your creative work this week – and this new year (which is really the middle of winter and the dark months, but heyho)… Looking forward to seeing what you are all doing!

www.claregaiasophia.com