The antidote...

...to this:



might just be this:



It's been a rough week here. Nothing life threatening, sort of...well actually. The week began with my eldest talking about how the foot that she thought she sprained was still hurting quite a bit and maybe the time had come to consult a bona fide health professional as opposed to just waiting for it to go away. That's standard operating procedure around here. Turns out the sprain is actually a break, but luckily not a severe one. You haven't experienced relief until you've watched the face of an 18-year old girl as she's told that she's not going to need an orthopedic boot.
Then my husband was involved in a head on bicycle accident. Thankfully, he was wearing a helmet. You should always wear a helmet! So, all that was broken was his left thumb. Good news, except he has to have surgery to fix the thumb. Still it could have been worse.
I learned about our third little bit of news when I came home from swim team yesterday morning. I was greeted with,"Mom you need to call Sarah because she's been in an accident." My panic was limited to a few short seconds because I reached her on the phone and learned that both she and her friend were not hurt. My poor girl had been driving home, approaching an intersection with a green light, when she heard a fire truck siren. She realized the fire truck was entering the intersection as well, so she slammed on her brakes to avoid running into the fire truck. Good reaction. Unfortunately, the suburban behind her didn't hear the siren and didn't react quickly enough. Thus, I have one incredibly smushed car. I'll find out later today whether it's mashed beyond repair.
First off, I'm so grateful that all we have to deal with is a thumb that is temporarily bent in the wrong direction and a Honda Civic sans a recognizable trunk. Things could have been tragic, but they're not. They're mostly irritating. So, my solution to irritation is to do something that makes me happy--like sew something new to wear.
Even better is that I made something I've been wanting to make for a long time. I've sewn skirts before, but I have been wanting to sew a mock patchwork skirt for a long time. My inspiration came from this amazing patchwork dress I saw someone wearing on the street several years ago. I was in my car and she was walking along the sidewalk and I nearly had my own version of Sarah's accident because I was so distracted by her patchwork frock. I have toyed with the idea of actually sewing patchwork with the intent of crafting it into a garment, but that seemed like so much work for not enough reward. Enter my lovely sponsor Jennifer and her fabulous online fabric store, Runner Girl Fabric. She has several patchwork fabrics and even a convenient tab to denote them.
I gathered up a yard of this fabric and drafted myself a super simple pattern based on my measurements.



I used a casing for my skirt and, rather than elastic, I created a buttonhole and ran a drawstring through it. Because I didn't add a lot of ease to my skirt, it's not heavily gathered and fits closely.
My cherry on top is the ric-rac along the hem.



Now, I ask you, is there any better way to say, " I'm ready for summer," than a mock patchwork skirt edged in ric-rac? I think not. Would you like to make a mock patchwork skirt and edge it, or not, in ric-rac? Then, I have a deal for you because Jennifer is giving away a yard of this lovely Kokka cotton to one lucky winner. Add to that I'll email the giveaway winner a PDF tutorial on how to draft a pattern and make the skirt. I'll post the tutorial here next week as well, but the winner gets first dibs.
To enter the contest all you have to do is leave a comment at the end of this post.
I'll take comments through Monday, May 31, 8:00pm CST.

Good luck. Have a great weekend. And hug somebody you love because you're so lucky to have them.