yes I have been busy

Because I am teaching about 5 different levels or year groups of City and Guilds Fashion this year, I have been right out straight putting together schemes of work and interpretting what the logbooks for each group needs. Last week I worked on it all day every day. Some of it was organising all my handouts into folders for the various units. and then of course, you leave one folder home and discover you needed it for something for someone else. Oh well.
But for light relief, I am doing some cutting out of fabrics. I am mainly concentrating on getting some nice clothes for cold weather. I rather wore my one warm wool skirt to death last year! Then, in moments between paperwork I can sit and stitch something up. Well, when my sick machine gets back from the doctor again!

So at the TVOffcuts meeting I took some fabric to cut. I was going to cut trousers from the pinstripe black (which I discovered was a faint check on the inside!) but because of the adjustments I have to make to the back crutch length, it was just a bit short. It was an offcut I inherited somehow and just enough was cut into that I couldn't fit it. However, it will make a smart skirt. I even needed to cut the waistband to be pieced, so I have some ideas of taking some of the scraps and cutting interesting shapes to applique and turn it into a fun smart skirt.

And since someone was wanting to get rid of the plaid, I also cut a skirt from that as well. With the prominent blue, it means I can wear brown even though I am not normally able to without looking ill.

At the weekend I cut linings for them. A rust coloured lining, for the plaid, which you can just about see. It goes with the rust stripe in the plaid. A grey lining for the pin stripe - goes with the pin stripe. I am trying to use up some lining fabric I also inherited somehow.

Then I also drafted a trumpet skirt pattern from my block. and cut out this lovely embroidered linen which I have been waiting to do for sometime. there is enough for a possible jacket as well. I am lining it with cotton, since the embroidery is metallic, and I think it will scratch. As a lining, it will help the linen to keep it's shape as well.

Then tonight I dug around in the skirt lengths box and saw this red herringbone and decided it would be just the cheerful thing this winter. My offcut of red lining was just a bit not enough because someone had cut a chunk out where I needed it. However, I decided I would go for secret cheerfulness too, with this strange flowery reddypinkygrey stuff. I would never use it as jacket lining, (even though I think that is about the only visible use I'd consider for it,) because it is rather strangely printed. Some flowers have good detail and some have almost none. I have decided the colour of the roses on the back side of the fabric (not shown)matches the red of the herringbone better, so I will use that. I am alreading using the back of the herringbone because the front side has marks from sun fading.

So, there we are. I am here...chuntering away at things in the background while I chaff under endure the early weeks of getting this course going.