Burns Night

January 25th is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, the famed Scottish poet, and accordingly haggis is eaten, whiskey is drunk and a good time is had by all.  Which is appropriate as apparently Mr. Burns rather had an eye for the ladies and knew a good time when he saw it.

I attended a Burns Supper over the weekend and it was rather fun.  Their were a number of Scots present, dressed accordingly and the haggis was piped in and addressed (apparently Burns loved haggis so much he wrote a poem about it!):

And we ate and made merry!  For some reason the haggis was vegetarian (?!), which of course made it edible (!) but that was rather strange!  It was served with beef and veggies and a lovely evening was had by all.  I wore one of my purple outfits and felt well dressed and comfy!  I have thought a couple of times about making a kilt - probably a bit longer than is traditional, but using the same techniques.  Maybe later this year!  I did buy some lovely plaid wool, but I keep dipping into it to make other things like the checked skirt here and the bag, here!

I did get some sewing done this weekend - I made a couple of items for my SIL who is in the Eastern Star and needed some 'whites'.  Unfortunately she is not well at all, and her medication is making her feel uncomfortable and I able to make her a Tina Givens skirt and tunic so that she could dress appropriately but still feel good.  She was thrilled, I was humbled :)  No photos unfortunately as this was a rush job - she asked late Friday for a couple of items, I made them Saturday to give to her at the Burn's Supper that evening.

A lovely weekend - I've got a couple more garments under the needle right now, then really must get cracking on my PJ's for the Artisan Square SWAP!

How is your sewing coming along?  Are you full of verve for the New Year?

Have You Ever Made a Kilt?

No, me neither.  But long story short, I am going to be footling around with bagpipes in about 3 weeks along with a dozen or so colleagues, and I think that one should always dress for the occasion.  And that means a kilt.  I looked up the price of renting one (about $85) and here in Canada there is no way I would be able to get the Leslie Tartan (my mothers tartan) so I thought 'I could make one of those'.  After a quick search online and I found a set of instructions which look scarily straightforward, and Fabric.com was selling some plaid that they called a '100% wool gaberdine' and at only $1.95/m (I know, what a price, I had the last 10m) I am now good to go. 

I have no idea why the fabric was so cheap, it is a woven plaid and is as soft as butter - it is almost like flannel with browns, cream and pink.  I know that it is going to take a lot of time basting the pleats in place (43 of them across the back) but this is going to be such fun. 

So how about you - what have been your impulse 'sews'?!