Poetry & Clothing Project: December

It's been a long time coming, but here is an update from the Poetry & Clothing project. You'd be more than forgiven for forgetting where we had got to! The last installment was November's garment: a remade sweatshirt with spotty Peter Pan collar. Garments for December, January and February have been made and received, but a bad bout of writer's block meant Harriet was unable to reciprocate for a while. Thankfully that has passed and we are back in business so here is December's garment:

A cape, no less!!! It may not be obvious, but I generally try to make Harriet seasonally appropriate garments. And what with it being Christmas, I thought I'd stretch myself to a larger and more involved project that my previous offerings. I used the vintage cape pattern I showed you in my outerwear sewing pattern hoard post. I created my own lining pattern pieces as this sewing pattern made the assumption the owner was so adept at sewing, that separate pieces would be an unnecessary frivolity (they wouldn't).

Look! Fully lined!!! I had to wing it and I'm not entirely sure I nailed the arm opening slits and how they relate to the lining at that point, but it seems to work well enough. The check wool fabric, in case you couldn't guess, came from my place of work, as did the lining. I decided to cut the collar pieces on the bias to alter the direction of the check. Because the check it quite a busy pattern, and because the fabric is so thick, I decided to use chunky poppers as a fastening which would be invisible when worn done-up.

Harriet was able to come and visit us in Brighton in 'one-night-only' fashion over the Christmas break whilst she was back in UK. We had such a great time together with Patty and Michelle, and I so pleased that she donned the cape straight away. Here she is pictured above, grappling with a cash machine!

It's so nice to be able to show you some photos of Harriet, to prove she's not just a figment of my imagination! The brief time we were able to spend together was as inspirational as ever, as we pow-wowed about all our projects and endeavours going forward into the new year and beyond.

Ok, poetry time! Let's hear how Harriet interpretted that remade sweatshirt of hers:

November

Girls in a deli

little red dots

bodies that twist and sprout

still laugh, trip & yell

I don't want to grow up

bright gloom

beyond the light of the classroom

dappled sun on a plastic cup

Who are you, Peter Pan?

red buttons erupt, they burst

laughter burns red & thirst

spilling over into the thought that they can

make that kind of joke

in the shade of a playground oak