In Print

 One of my favorite sewing events is taking place right now and I am joining the top sewing frenzy with this little number. It's not a departure, but since I always avoid large scale prints, it certainly felt like one.

As a teenager I had a number of random jobs. Some were for fun like my stint as a floral assistant. My job at a local bakery shaped my life more than I could have imagined, and I had taken it on a whim. But no job proved to be more interesting than my career at Joann's fabrics- that's right, I was a Joann's team member. We had a tumultuous relationship, but I spent two years cutting fabric, organizing shelves and ringing people up as it was a great way to look at fabric most of the day while getting paid for it.
If you have ever been to a Joann's you can imagine what my co workers were like; most of them close or past retirement age who enjoyed the same perks as I did. There were some really extraordinarily nice ladies who I had the opportunity to meet, and then there were some that were on the other end of the nice spectrum. One woman in particular, we will call her Patty, always found a way to offer up a back handed compliment or wickedly snide remark all while wearing a sugary smile. After an afternoon of stocking new seasonal inventory I decided I had fallen love with a large scale print that I can, to this day, imagine vividly. I took it up to the cutting table and before I could tell Patty the yardage I wanted she told me that I would look terrible in the skirt I had envisioned making. When I asked her why, fully expecting something about the colorway and my skin tone, she rolled her eyes and replied with a disparaging tone "Because you are too short".  At 5'1" I am fully aware of my small frame and have heard an array of comments about the matter throughout my life, but I had never heard someone my grandma's age tell me that information in such mean spirited tone. I should have gotten it anyways, but instead put it back, and avoided all large prints for well over a decade.

Until I saw this print recently at Joann's- the colors and abstract floral were too enticing, and although I could hear Patty's voice in my head when I took the bolt to the cutting table, I decided to grab it anyways. I made this little drapey cardigan with bit of a kimono style as it wasn't the normal stretchy knits I choose for this pattern, and I let it go looser and airier. I used this old standby that I always find to be an easy and successful pattern.