Fabric of Life

The photo challenge on SCS this week was Fabric.
Like cooking, I've loved sewing as long as I can remember. I was making little skirts and waistcoats and pinafore dresses by the time I was seven or eight, on my own old Singer machine - even if I did run the needle through my finger the very first time I tried it. It was an old one Dad got from somewhere, and painted blue and white with little flowers on it for me. And up till recently I still sewed a lot; but when C stopped being away overnights it meant tidying up all the time, so it's been a while since I've made much. When I got out some fabrics to pile together for my photo, I realised I really need to do some sewing this summer. For starters I'd like to use that grey, black and white print from Italy to make C another shirt. He had one made from it years ago, and the other half of the fabric was meant to be for me. But he wore his shirt till the cuffs were frayed and it was going at the elbows before he finally let it go, so maybe he deserves the other half of the fabric too.

My other photo is an old linen tablecloth, from my grandmother, maybe older. I use it quite often, despite the fact that it takes AGES to iron, even if I am organised enough to do it while it's still slightly damp. The piece of embroidery sitting on it is also Irish linen. And goodness, it was expensive - I think it was something like £60 a metre, but it's quite wide so I've fitted several embroideries out of it and there's still plenty left.

No photo, but when I was walking to the bus after work today, I saw someone ( a supermarket delivery guy, his van was parked along the quays) throwing pieces of bread into the Liffey. One solitary seagull in sight...and two minutes later they were mobbing the bread as he threw it in. I don't know how they communicate, but I now know that if I want to get some good seagull shots, all I need to do is save up some stale bread and bring it along. There were at least three different types of gull, and it was interesting watching their different flight patterns.