The Joy of “Lockdown” Projects

As we head into the winter months in the UK, the prospect of a second lockdown is a gloomy one. What better excuse could there be to plan a few sewing projects to keep busy and pass the time, whilst creating something special for someone else? We’re now 10 days in, my husband is glued to the final day of The Masters, which happens to be in Georgia – not that far away from Rebecca Page’s US distribution centre in Tucker. It’s been raining all weekend, so the time is right to whip something up.

My homeland, New Zealand, is on the other side of the world…literally… it’s a 28-hour flight away. As things cool down here, lucky Kiwis are enjoying the summer. I like sewing for warm weather – it seems so much lighter, brighter, and easier. My friend has recently welcomed her first granddaughter, Tillie, so my project is to make something for the warm, summer months. There’s plenty to choose from amongst Rebecca Page patterns – I settle on the Arabella skirt in a Michael Miller cotton ‘Somer’, with co-ordinated ‘Full Bloom’ in linen for a Sun Hat.

The Arabella skirt is an easy sew, and the cotton is the perfect weight to add structure to how the gathers fall. It’s practical too for little ones, as cotton is easy to wash! The Sun Hat is more of a challenge as I’m rusty and need to practice more to get back up to speed with techniques. Luckily, the Rebecca Page instructions are detailed, so they guide me through each step. You’ll see from the photo (below) that I tacked the crown into place with green cotton before sewing – it takes a little longer, but I prefer this to having to unpick and re-stitch when it doesn’t quite work. It’s the way I was taught as a child, and to be honest, I enjoy hand sewing; the rhythmic nature is calming and therapeutic. The stitching around the brim was also good practice in getting up to speed in sewing around corners.

So here it is, finished, and ready to wing its way around the world to Wanaka in New Zealand.The beautiful photo of the flowers and view are from The Green Room Flower Co (Tillie’s mum’s business), to show you a bit of Wanaka.

*I used the leftover fabric for a couple of pages of the Quiet Book (still working on this project). Here’s a sneak peek…