liberty (fabric)

I've been sewing more lately. I think now that the weather is warming up and I don't need a sweater and socks and a blanket and a pile of knitting on me all the time to keep me cozy it's opened up a little of my time for sewing. Evelyn, Eliza (or Eleanor) and I have all gotten a new outfit or two out of my sewing bender. I'm on my third incarnation of this tunic, which gets better each time I make it. I used the leftover fabric that I bought (way to much of) for Evelyn's school uniforms last year to make one and am currently in the middle of a buttercup yellow linen version, hopefully to be finished before the weekend so I can wear it in the sun.

But it's not the tunic that's driving this current sewing obsession. It's the Liberty.

I've known about Liberty fabric for a long time. When I was thirteen we spent Christmas visiting family in London and I bought myself a Liberty print notebook that I still have, tucked up in my old trunk. I'm not really a floral kind of girl but there was something about Liberty floral that I loved, even then. My raincoat is lined with Liberty print, which is a sort of secret treat because no one really sees it but me, but I've never sewn with it until recently and I'm absolutely in love.

This summer Evelyn is going to be a flower girl in my best friend's wedding and before I make her dress out of the official flower girl yellow polka dot fabric (so cute) I wanted to do a trial run to make sure the pattern fit. And a good thing too because my skinny minnie is going to need a 4T top and a 6x bottom to have it be the right length. This test run seemed like a good excuse to buy a little Liberty, which I've been petting every time I visit Nido in Burlington. It's honestly a little swoon-worthy. The nicest fabric I've ever sewn with. I'm not sure what it is about it. It's so soft and smooth and is sews beautifully and washes even better. The trial dress has become her favorite thing to wear. In fact, I'm tempted to make another out of some more Liberty. Just so I can sew with it some more.

Eleanor/Eliza got a dress out of the scraps and then another out of another little chunk I bought - Evie picked the blue and I didn't really love it at first, which is why I bought the other to "try" on the doll. But in the end the blue turned out to be so very...Evie, that I love it. I'm not sure if I would ever wear a dress made out of it. Not that I could ever bring myself to pay for the amount of Liberty it would take to make me a dress. Little girl dresses are just barely under the threshold of "how much is that fabric?" as it is. But oh I'm tempted. It's so ridiculously fun to sew with.