living studio

Last week I had finally admit to myself that we, as a family, simply do not have enough room for a living room.  We have to make due with our kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom and studio. 

For the last year, living in our tiny six hundred and forty four square feet, my creative urges have been tempered by the need to haul out the sewing machine and supplies from deep storage for every use.  It has made the ten minutes here, half an hour there when the kids are momentary distracted mama sewing nearly impossible.  The machine has grown dusty and I had almost forgotten about the ten tonnes of fabric hiding in bins our basement.

Almost forgotten, but not quite.



Girl child has this funny visceral response to the word 'studio'.  It is as if, when she hears the word, every nerve in her petite body fires and she does an involuntary shutter while her eyes lit up with wonder. 

Girl child believes that there is nothing greater in this world than having one's own private studio.

I agree with her.  But, given our confined living space, we will both have to make due with making our common areas our shared studio slash living room.  And visitors shall have to make themselves comfortable and take their coffee among the art in progress, sewing machines, fabric bolts and drawing pens.

Funny thing that happened, though, once I made room for creativity where once the tv stood.  The sewing machine hummed to life and the glue, paper and scissors have sprung into action.
Perhaps now it is more of a living room than ever.  A living studio?

The patterns for girl child's dress and capri pants came from Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa.  They are both in black broadcloth, with the bottom edges hemmed with the selvages from a pinstripe fabric and a patterned silk fabric.  I also put a hint of the selvages asymetrically at the neckline to keep the top from becoming too fussy.

Okawa's patterns are straightforward to make, a real pleasure (though in the the spirit of honesty, I did not read the instruction), and girl child finds them terrifically comfortable.

And, just so you know, for a lady who hasn't done much sewing in over a year, I put on the 1/4" bias tape like a boss.