Ribbon Skirt

A young friend recently asked me to sew her a ribbon skirt.  Ribbon skirts are culturally significant garments for Native American women, as this article explains.  I was very happy to sew for her.  She chose a beautiful green batik fabric as well as the ribbons, and she specified their order and placement.  She wanted a simple skirt, though other examples, like the one Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland wore for her swearing in, can be quite elaborate.

 My friend chose this pattern for the skirt, which she wanted to be on the narrow side.  She also wanted a longer skirt, and I was able to lengthen the pattern.  

It was such a simple thing for me to sew up this skirt, and I was glad to help my young friend realize the vision she had for her ribbon skirt.

Crewel Embroidery

I've always loved crewel embroidery.  It's sort of the textile version of paint-by-numbers, a little mindless, but also satisfying.  Embroidering with wool makes for a quick project, although I started this one early in the pandemic, put it down, and just now finished it.

I think I bought this kit on EBay, it's from 2007.  The heyday of crewel is probably the 1970s, but you can find plenty of vintage and new kits online.

After I finished my embroidery, I auditioned home dec fabrics for the back and for the front edges so I could size it up to fit a thrifted feather pillow I had.

I love how cheerful and bright it turned out, for now the pillow is on a chair in the living room.