Indigo and my New Skirt

It all began with a few yards of Celedon cotton jersey, 

a shade particularly unflattering to me.  

It was well washed, but not scoured.

I measured and cut the length needed to lay out an 

A-line skirt from my own adjusted Alabama Chanin pattern.

Then I hand basted miles of natural cotton thread through a very large remnant of that same jersey.

On a beautiful clear day (last year!), 

I got an Indigo vat going for a delightful class and we dipped and dipped.

The skirt fabric was immersed and oxidized once, the remnant twice.

(This is not from that particular day, but from my most recent dip in the blue.)

The fabric was left folded while in the vat which resulted in great splotchy and spilly marks. 

The thread was pulled out and wound round a cork to keep it tidy. The stitching left some great patterning behind on the fabric, and the thread is wonderfully variegated.

Four skirt pieces were cut and sewn together.

I'd drawn templates of Matisse-inspired leaves on old folders. I traced them onto the darker fabric and stitched them to the skirt using the dyed thread.

The shapes were carefully cut around after the stitching was complete.

I've tried the foldover elastic on another skirt but found it wasn't as firm as I prefer, 

so this time I stitched a once-turned casing using an easy stretchy stitch.  

On the flat, or front side, it looks like a pair of alternating running stitches, 

on the reverse, it's a row of vertical stitches.  

I'm thrilled with the fit. And. I can't wait to stitch up something else.

What are you working on?