Think Music

Over the last week, whenever I've reached the end of my ability to think about class notes, submissions (for yet-to-be-revealed projects), website tweakings or pattern instuctions, I've tinkered with a little idea I've had for a long time.

This has been in my head since pushing a pram around the northern suburbs with a nine-month-old* who wouldn't nap during the day (or night, for that matter) and dreaming up bag designs was the closest I got to a sewing machine.

(*That baby is now nearly three years older. For those of you who ask how I work around a small child: the answer is.... S - L - O - W - L - Y!!).

Patternmaking is like a puzzle that grips me until it's solved. I started the pattern after midnight last Sunday morning. It was lucky I didn't have a sewing machine at home or I'd have been up all night!

I once knew a writer who said he wrote "to get it out of my head". Patternmaking is a bit like that for me. It's compelling. Addictive. The next stage is nutting out the right materials and processes for the job, and that's just as absorbing.

It's been my think music all week. Whenever I reached a block point with whatever I was writing (or was simply too tired to think in words) - or whenever I felt overwhelmed by it all - I'd tweak the pattern again. Make a toile. Tweak again. Today I worked only on this (and trying to keep a sugar-fuelled kinder-holidaying child busy). By this evening I was happy with the shape, at last.

There are still minor technical glitches to be ironed out before it's a kit, but I'm hoping to have it finished in time for the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show.

I have a lot to write between now and then, so I anticipate a bit of 'think music' will be needed in between. Watch this space...