I Hate Ruffles

I know, I know, it's been ages since I posted and what do I do?  Whine about something, in this case, ruffles.

Why do I hate ruffles?  Because they're a pain.  You take a strip of fabric something like this:

Yeah, that sheet's being washed, ugh.

And by dint of much perseverance, turn it into a loooong (in this case) ruffle.  First, you have to sew the gathering stitches, then you have to gather it.  No photos of that, sorry, but it's pretty boring, so really...I spared you.  

This was not from a pattern, I was pretty much just making it up as I went along.  Why I decided to put a ruffle on it is beyond me, because--in case I didn't mention it--ruffles are a chore and a half when you start from stratch (see the first photo) as I did.  

With a normal pattern, there are marks on the ruffle that match up with marks on the garment, so you more or less know how much gathering you need to do to make the ruffle be the length it needs to be to fit the garment.  I marked the...middle.  And gathered it on either side of the middle, hoping for the best, length-wise.  

Once you get it more or less the right length, you start pinning it to the garment, and this is where it's really a pain.  

If you don't pin it close enough it's going to be a beast to sew without catching the ruffle in the seam in places you don't want to catch the ruffle.

So you pin and pin and pin and pin, in this case nearly 100 inches of ruffle.

Still a lot to pin, but look how nicely it's all gathered!

It takes a loooong time.

Finally, after two or three days of pinning, it's time to put it in the machine and try to sew it without catching the loose end of the ruffle in the seam.  You actually have to be careful and watch where you are sewing.  Sew sew sew...all nearly 100 inches, which doesn't seem like much until you're putting a ruffle on it, trust me.  

At last!  To the end of the seam.  Well...almost.  Usually when I'm making something I'm uber careful to get it right and not sew anything wrong and to make it as nice on the inside as I can.  Not this skirt, you know why?  I'LL PROBABLY ONLY WEAR IT ONCE.  

Yes, you heard me right, once.  My darling daughter has signed us up for this race, the Color Run.  It sounds like a blast and I'm really looking forward to it, but to really get into the race you need to wear all white.  So I had to make us white running (or, in my case, walking) skirts and white compression shorts for under.  As I was making hers, I foolishly thought that they'd be kind of kicky and cute if I put a ruffle on them, and instead of going over to Joann's and buying pre-gathered ruffle, I made mine from scratch.  Oooof.

Anyway, while usually I go to more trouble to make things pretty and perfect, in this case I just tucked the seam allowance to one side and topstitched it.  Good enough, right?

I swear, there's dog/cat hair EVERYWHERE in this house.

Finally, I was done with the ruffle, and at this point, I hated it a little less.

Because I was done with it, yes, true, but I did hate it less.

Then it was only a matter of putting on a quick and dirty waistband and topstitching that (don't look at the wrong side of the fabric, please!)...

...making the marks for the snaps...

...installing the male side of the snaps...

Look at how nice those holes up there look!  I love these plastic snaps!

 Here's the installation of the female side of the snap. The one on the right is done, the one of the left isn't.  Them things is pointy before you compress 'em, let me tell you.  Don't step on 'em.

Until all ten snaps are done and voila!  It's finished!

No photos of the finished skirt, but after the race I'm sure I'll have plenty.

And as an aside, here's a photo of the jammies I made for my son's three nephews in Oslo.  Cute!

Left to right, for William (three in September), as yet unborn baby Dertz, and Peter, born in April.  

W is for Villiam.  

I leave for England on Monday morning, so you might not hear from me again until then.  See you on the other side of the pond!

Lærdalstunnelen

The longest car tunnel in the world, which is basically between Oslo (been there) and Bergen (been there too).

Those are cities in Norway, by the way...I've discovered that most Americans can ID about three Norwegian cities: Oslo, Lillehammer, and perhaps Bergen.  I was one of those Americans until my son became a Norwegian. :)

Anyway, when I was there visiting M & M two years ago, Michael and I took the train from Oslo to Bergen, so we missed this tunnel.  Not that it was a wasted trip, however, as that route is considered one of the most beautiful in Europe, which I found to be true and is amply illustrated by the photos I took from the train in 2010:

Every podunk one-horse town had a picturesque station, some bigger, some smaller, but all impossibly European and cute.  I loved them because we don't really have anything like that in the USA in these modern times.  

Many of the buildings are roofed in slate.  Can't imagine where they got it.

Yes, a glacier!  I saw fjords, too!  

Okay, it's not gorgeous Norwegian scenery, so sue me.  I actually stepped out of the train WITHOUT MICHAEL all by myself IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY to get this shot, which was exceedingly brave of me.  I don't get out much.

But still...nearly 25 km? That's a heck of a tunnel.

Someday I hope we can drive from Oslo to Bergen instead of taking the train.  M & M clearly need to buy a car.

Flights are Booked!

And trip planning proceeds apace!

Europe, Here I Come!

I'll be spending about a month across the pond this summer, visiting Mark & Emily (and the Guntons!) in England and Michael and Merethe (and the Dertz fam!) in Norway.  If we can afford it we'll make a car trip up to Scotland as well.  I'm so excited, as I've not been to the UK yet and I've always wanted to go.

To start, there's this.  My beloveds live in Hull, so that's our base of operations.  Stonehenge is a must, which we can do in one loooong day, and one longer multi-day trip, either Scotland or Ireland (probably Scotland, as you don't need a ferry to get there).  London's probably going to be crazy due to the Olympics, so we might not get down there at all, although we do plan to head south to see The Stoat and the Badger who live down there somewhere, south.  In England.  Or so they say, and why would they lie?

As I say, I'm quite excited, and am having fun with the first stages of planning.  I'm teaching summer school so I can have some shekels to spend whilst there, although it will definitely be a budget trip.  Just being there will be enough at this point.

Happy!