#salix

[unteriors]

Pincone Court, Salix, Pennsylvania.

[boschintegral-photo]

Weeping Willow Leipzig, Germany

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

It's done*! It's done*! We're not gonna talk about what I did to my sleep schedule up finish it, but it's done*!

We had a nicely aesthetic walk in the woods, so I figured that'd be a great photo op... And it was 26°C at 10 am already, with 77% humidity, my hair wet from a shower and an incline most cars can't handle. Most of the frontal pictures have me looking like a freshly steamed lobster.

But ho-lee bugnuts, does this twirl. It's not even all that heavy (1590g) or warm (the top is a single layer of linen), considering it's 920-ish pieces of fabric pieced together by hand, but structure the patchwork is just stiff enough to flare out perfectly without hanging weird when you're just going about your day. I was one of the few during the hike who didn't have to worry about bugs or stinging nettles on most parts of their body.

...or, you know, committing shenanigans with the plushie of a friend who is stuck at home.

Several people who have seen it so far said the colors work really well together and it looks so balanced. My BIL, who bought "his wife" a sewing machine with zero** ulterior motives a few months ago, asked where to get fabric that's the color and texture of the skirt. Um.

But yeah, data:

- skirt is Salix by Unendlich Schön, lengthened to 80cm, but with the flare reduced to 75% its usual volume (see pictures above on how little difference that makes)

- skirt has center slit pockets anchored in 3 panel seams and the waist seam. Twirling pictures were taken with things inside the pockets, because years of experience have taught me that backpacks and humid heat are a special kind of hell

- bodice is from the Hinterland Dress by Sew Liberated, made with the 3/4th sleeve without the cuff and the elasticated back hack

- patchwork is the Spiny Peaks quilt pattern by Modafabrics, each strip of blocks applied with foundation piecing to the panels, with the zigzag alternatively running vertical and horizontal across each pattern, quilted down extra hard by following the outside line of the green zigzag. I've got about 80-100 blocks left.

- fabric is some IKEA calico and green linen scraps, one half of a digital print dinosaur duvet cover I bought two years ago and scraps of a floral duvet cover I tried to dye a moody dark gray but which ended up black. Some of the inside fabric is also a duvet cover I bought to use for mockups. The entire project was to see if I could make a coherent, wearable garment out of a pile of scraps that weren't enough to do much with.

- The main expense was overlocker thread. I used... A lot of overlocker thread on this one. I'm actively grateful for it being affordable at my local fabric store. Add 3 machine needles and we're looking at about 15 bucks spent making this. If we factor in that the thread and fabric and tools from my stash still have value, as do the 200+ hours of my time that went into making this... This might be the most expensive garment I own.

* the 6m of hem are overlocked and very much not done beyond that. Shhhh.

** possibly more than zero

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Saturday 15 March 2025

The wonderful pink catkins of Salix gracilistyla 'Mount Aso' (willow) appear from late winter and into the early spring. These images were sent by a friend (‘thank you’ Richard) who saw them flowering at the Royal Horticulture Society Garden Hyde Hall, Essex. This deciduous shrub reaches about 3m and has slightly bluish leaves which are silvery on the underside.

Jill Raggett

[wild-e-eep]

Pannaria rubiginosa flourishing in a boggy willow wood.

iNaturalist observation 260352463

[francescointoppa]

Salice rosso (Salix purpurea L., Salicaceae) (vecchia dia)

[kristo-flowers]

More willows. Vinderhoutse Bossen, Ghent, Belgium

[ends-2-beginnings]

Clive Nichols @clivenichols

Autumn trees

Startlingly beautiful morning with weeping branches of Salix x sepulcralis var chrysocoma and revealing the peeling bark of Acer griseum •