Farm Buddy's mother passed away a few yeas ago and, as they do, some of her treasures have come to her daughter. One of them was a heavily pleated, handmade, patchwork skirt that FB's mom made in 1972. Like most quilts, it was an accumulation of many different scrapes and memories, including several of her embroidery projects.
This ankle-length, hand-sewn, pleated skirt was beautiful, but also not something that FB would ever wear - not exactly appropriate farm attire. It is the kind of heirloom that has a lot of value, but little use. Rather than put it away in a closet, FB enlisted the help of NobleWoman (also known as Riding Buddy's mom, who is also a very talented seamstress) to give this old treasure a new purpose and a new life.
NobleWoman unfolded all those pleats, ironed it all flat and devised a way to stabilized the fragile fabric. She used some mysterious stuff called WonderUnder (that name still makes me shake my head at the mental image that popped into my mind the first time NW tried to explain all this to me), to glue the skirt onto some new backing material.
The end result is the table cloth that we served Christmas dinner on.
I should have gotten more pictures. Those flowers and the scene in the center were all hand embroidered.
In addition to creating the framework and the backing, NobleWoman added a few finishing touches here and there as well....
....along with a signature, because artwork should always be signed.
