Get out your patchwork and patchouli: Phish is back in town after 5 long years!! (And by town I mean East Troy, Wisconsin, not Chi). So when I was a Phish follower in high school I made my own patchwork skirt. It was just large panels sewn together for a long skirt. Back then I had the help of my mom’s sewing machine and expertise.  Since I’ve been excited for this reunion for awhile now, I decided to make a new patchwork skirt.  Except this time it would consist of small square patches.

So I went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked out some awesome fabric, some thread, some needles, and an essential tomato shaped pin cushion.

Mind you, I do not own a sewing machine.  I do however own a lot of free time.  So I decided I would sew the entire skirt by hand (since I wanted to make a short skirt and not a long one).  I cut out 4×4 inch patches, vaguely arranged them into some sort of pattern, and got to work.  Below is my photo diary of the long process (if I added up all the hours of the days it took me I would estimate around 25 – 30 hours from cutting, pinning, sewing, yelling at Klinker, etc):

Cut up patches

Laying out strips

Progress

MANY hours later

Ready for dancin'!

Lots of thread

 I cannot begin to tell you how much thread I used.  My god.  But it is complete and I am quite happy with it.  It is not perfect by any means but I’m not a professional sewer…  I have a bunch leftover fabric as I grossly overestimated the amount I would need.  Maybe I will make little catnip pouches to thank Klinker for biting and tangling all the string I was trying to use.

Pet Peeve of the Day: Fake people