Corona Kimono 6/18/20

I thought about how the last time Jon and I went away was just before the Shelter-in-place began.  It was Sunday, March 8th that we met Jon’s daughter and granddaughter at the Bronx Zoo.

And now, here we are at a time when our world is beginning to open up again.  And when it did the first thing Jon and I did was to go to one of our favorite Vermont Inn’s a day after they opened.

It felt very much like an important milestone in our experience during the Coronavirus pandemic.

So I began with a drawing I did at the Inn of the piece of furniture between two chairs in our room.  I used a photo I still had in my iPhone of a sealion from our trip to the zoo on one side of it.  On the other side, I drew a butterfly.

On our trip, I finished reading the novel This Terrible Beauty by Katrin Schumann and began reading The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams.

The Language of Butterflies is a non-fiction book all about butterflies.  Jon got it for me knowing I’d be spewing butterfly stories day and night.  And I am.  But I also read some of the book to Jon and suddenly he’s very interested in butterflies.

I liked the balance of the animals in this piece, one on each end and the symbolism of the butterfly as a new beginning.

Before beginning my stitching today, I had to do some work on the kimono itself.

It’s not always easy to maneuver the kimono on my sewing machine to do my thread drawings.  Usually when I do a thread drawing the ends of the fabric are not sewn down.  I’d start in the middle of the fabric and work my way out to the edges.  But it’s harder to do that on the kimono since there are already seams and no open edges.

So in one place on the Kimono, the fabric was puckered.

I decided the best way to deal with it was to make a dart as is sometimes done when making clothing. I also had to open up some of the seams to trim and rearragne the batting so it laid flat.  ( I put the batting between the lining of the Kimono so I could stitch on it).

This all took some time to get right.  I had to figure it out as I went and after a few tries, I got it right.

I basted the dart, then after I did my thread drawing, I pulled it out.  You can see the fold in the photo of my drawing, and a small pucker in the sleeve to the left, but I think overall it won’t be too distracting.

This is one of those things I’ve been avoiding, not really knowing how I would do it.   But it feels good to have it done and I’m happy with the job I did on it.