The Magic of Inside Out

Inside out: Fabric is right sides together

The fabric is pulled through a 

small 

opening which is then sewn closed.

When evening winter weather reports say there's a chance of a snowstorm, New Jersey kids do something we didn't do in New York.

They go to sleep with their pajamas inside out.

In the chill of the night--which is difficult to remember at the moment--phone calls begin or end with reminders of what to do and kid after kid in house after house turn their PJs inside out before giving kisses goodnight. 

It's  meant to bring on the storm. Showing your seams to the sky somehow tilts the odds in favor of so much snow falling they have to cancel school.  Nobody knows how it works but, when it does, it's the magic of inside out.

Sewers have the magic of inside out, too. It starts with fabric RST--Right Sides Together--like this work in progress above. Then stitch, stitch, stitch almost all the way around, leaving just enough of an opening to reach in and pull all that fabric out.

It's a funny thing every time, to go from working on the wrong side of a project, to pulling it through, (which itself seems sometimes miraculous and, to me, reminiscent of childbirth) and then seeing that fabric, with its colors and markings, in the shape you stitched it into.I kept it unfinished for a couple of days before putting on the finishing touches--um, like a face. I really like the stage where something has formed but it still has the possibilities of looking like absolutely anything!

And this is what she ended up looking like!

Goodnight,
Susan

The Sloppy Sewer