Charcoal Linen Frock of Goodness

I didn't really think my fall rotation would involve much fluidity.  I was pretty happy with where my rotation ended last fall, and the few pieces I had added seemed to be perfect additions to an already great rotation.  Then...I don't know.  I stopped wanting to wear prints, and just wanted to wear muted solids.  We had a week or so of quite chilly weather (yay!!) and I realized that my cold weather clothing is almost invariably solid.  The non-solid dresses are printed such that they function as a solid in my wardrobe.  My fall rotation was very heavy on the prints, and as the weather started to cool, I realized I was longing for my cold weather solids.  (Of course, now we've had a week of freakishly warm weather, and I'm happily back into my prints; go figure.  I guess that is why these transitional rotations need to include a bit of both).  I've done some swaps, thinned the ranks, and now I think I'm pretty happy with things.  I'll post a round up about the fall at the end of next month.

I've done a lot of making this fall.  I've been learning how to sew with knits (not a steep learning curve, but figuring out which sorts of knits I want to wear has been challenging after wearing woven garments almost exclusively for several years now).  I made a few wadders.  I fell in madly in love with linen, particularly a heavier weight that works well for cooler weather.  I rediscovered my love for historic costuming and have the opportunity to give a demonstration of 18th century working class clothing next month.  I want to learn how to weave.

That's all to the good, I think.  I realized that I really want to be doing some form of living history (if I could find a proper job doing it that works with my crazy schedule and life, that would be even better!)  It is something to pray about, to be sure.  I feel quite certain that these interests and abilities were given to me for a reason, and the fact that I've been studying history for so long speaks to a deep-seated desire for knowledge about the past.  I pray God will reveal His plan for these things in due time.

In the meantime, here is the last of the linen dresses for this rotation.  I have a good friend from church who is at a very similar stage of life to me and has a similarly busy academic husband; we've been talking a lot lately about life stuff, and she mentioned that her sartorial mood is all blacks and grays lately.  She sews a little, and had asked me to trace off my redrafted Simplicity 1080 for her at some point.  I decided it would be a fun thing to make her a frock too.  I bought some charcoal gray linen and in the meantime, made up the navy blue linen dress out of TWO YARDS.  I was frankly shocked that I squeaked it out!  I had to trim a little off the sweep of the bottom skirt portion to make the cutting layout work, but I think I actually like the trimmer silhouette, so I did that with the charcoal linen and was then able to cut two dresses out of the fabric I had bought for my friend!  So we each got a charcoal linen dress.  #winning.

I'm really into kangaroo pockets right now, and so I made both dresses with them.  They are so fast and easy to apply, and I really like them as a functional matter when wearing.  I'm also loving shawls this year--I'm so eager to finish my Rent/Tess shawl.  Of course, I cast on another sweater Monday evening, so I've slowed down on my progress, but I need several things on needles so I don't get bored.

Details:

Teal Coco underdress: Telio Organic Cotton (this brand is suddenly everywhere!), Coco pattern, length added.

Charcoal linen overdress: Nine Iron linen from fabrics-store.com in IL019 weight, vintage bias tape, Simplicity 1080 (redrafted)

Orenberg shawl: bought in Russia in 1998 from an old lady on the side of the road (no kidding!)

Shawl pin: Ginny Sheller's Small Things etsy store

Thistle necklace: etsy

Earrings: bought in Ireland in 2010

Boots: Macy's (last year)

Over the knee socks: O Socks from sockdreams.com