The Speed of Trish is not always a rush. Time ebbs and flows for me. I have always realized that the length of a given day is not the same as another day. Some are long and some are short. The perfect ones are spent completely in the Now, where time does not exist but for this current second. I have had quite a few of these in the studio lately.

At this exact slice of Now, the studio is a sewing space rather than a weaving space. My looms are still there, most of them with projects in progress. I sit in front of Gran’s sewing machine in a little pool of light, even when I am sewing by hand. The machine makes a convenient table, and my pincushion, scissors, and threads are at hand. As I make tiny felling stitches, I ponder why I am doing this. I can’t articulate exactly why I am drawn to recreate Edwardian clothing right now. It’s not my area of expertise. That is Elizabethan dress. It’s not like the silhouette is a natural for my frame. I am built for Regency or the 1920’s dress, both of which I want to make. It’s not even the period I have researched in depth. That is the reign of Queen Victoria.

The closest I can come to defining my attraction is that the Edwardian era was a positive time for women. The suffrage movement was gathering momentum. There was a loosening of the tight stays in favor of rational dress. Artists of the period explored medieval themes and costumes, so I think they would understand my fascination with historic dress.

From a practical side, there are plenty of patterns and descriptions of the original practice to follow in making them up. The treadle or hand-cranked sewing machine was in popular use, but the nicest things still had a great deal of hand-sewn details.

Those are the facts, but they don’t add up to the passion. Come to think of it, I never could articulate why I loved Elizabethan dress so much. Some things just are.

Right now, sewing is my gateway to the quiet time. I thought I might finish the pair of drawers this week, but I cringe at the thought of using permade bias binding on the inside of the ruffle. It does not match the soft white color, and it is stiff and part synthetic. It’s not for anything that touches the skin. I’ll make my own bias binding out of the “cabbage” or leftover fabric. It will be carefully felled by hand. The right process matters more to me than the finished item. It always has.