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When I made the pinnies and edged them all around with handmade bias I was happy and proud, but then I stitched some doilies to this beautiful lustrous silk velvet and made them into scarves and I got a tingle up my spine.

Dot was married in 1947…..she is now 86 years old and still living in her own home. I asked to borrow her wedding dress to photograph and pour over. It arrived in its original Buckley and Nunn box tied up with string and from the Children’s Department. It is so tiny that I couldn’t get it on my size 6 dressmakers dummy and so fine that it made my day.It is made from silk organza. The skirt is made up of panels cut on the bias and inset with lace. I didn’t like to press it and iron out the creases of 60 years, I was also a little afraid of damaging it.

who came down on the weekend to visit with me and to buy skirts! It was a roaring success and the decks really are clear now to go ahead into winter, although it doesn’t feel like it at the moment with this freakish heat in Melbourne.

The Doilie Pocket skirt went over really well too which was great so here it is

I’m a cardie wearer, I think they are the perfect Melbourne garment. They have the right off-on-hot-cold-inside-outside applications, so I want to make some to sell and to wear, because like skirts they are hard to find under $150, with the elements of fun casual interesting good quality. Now… I’m not claiming to have covered all of these in the first try but here I go….having a stab.

A good friend is like a tonic.

The other night my friend came over for a catch up, sleep over and dinner. She enjoys my kids which goes a long way in any mother’s affections.

We talked about what’s bin happnen. And in the course of dinner, bathing the kids, reading stories and kissing them to sleep we had a few wines and started to talk. We talked about loves gained and lost. We analyzed, argued, discussed and discoursed. The next day I woke with a smile on my face that stayed for the whole day. I felt invigorated by the company of someone, aside from my family, who knows, understands and loves me. She is someone whose opinion I respect and who I know will be honest with me. We have travelled together, sharing all of the times, good and bad. There is nothing between us that is about what we do or what we have or who we are hanging around with. Its only about that shared life experience, the gift of knowing someone well, of respecting them and they you. I can look in to her face and trust that I will be met and not judged. We talked for so long and with such abandon that even Andrew the night owl crawled off to bed, talking about needing to go to work the next day.

The next day at the market Ishika who makes bags said ‘I like your shoes’, and then laughed saying, ‘you know in Turkey we have a saying that a friend is looking at your face, while an enemy is looking at your shoes’.

I did an online interview for the Modish Creators Market which they have published on their blog………

I haven’t been making skirts this week, I’ve been cutting out little girl’s dresses for my niece’s wedding at the end of April.

I have struggled with this down home project so much more than with skirt making, feeling anxious, suffering from avoidance and feelings of insecurity!!!

It’s doing my head in.

I have had to stop my furtive darting up to Rathdowne Remnants for a bit of tuile to try and analyze these crazy emotions……..I have had to take deep breaths to calm myself…..why?

I’ve decided its the backstop thing. Years ago when my parents were alive this would not have been my job. Mum would have brought her patience, skill and love to this project and she would have made 3 beautiful little dresses…for my daughters and another.

I can’t pass the ball to her, I have to do this myself.

The truth is that I have enough skill to do the job myself, but I want it to be done by her. I want to hear her muttering over pattern pieces, I want to have those conversations about measurements, heights, differences and similarities, fabric drop and colour. I want to make her a cup of coffee and a sandwich while she sews.

I would not be making skirts if it were not for her and the hours we spent making things. I watched her make my sister’s wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, party frocks, hand knitted jumpers, dressing gowns, and so many other things. If it could made she would do it.

She passed her skills on to me with relish and even though I have been a mother myself for quite a while and I have not been a daughter for more than 15 years, I like to think that she would be pleased with my current pursuits.

I will be at the Coburg West Primary Twilight Market.

This Friday the 20th November

Reynard St Coburg West

4.00-7.30 pm

There will be other stall holders and food, entertainment for the kids, and it should be a lovely evening.