Fifteen years and fifteen minutes

 I can't swear that it was fifteen years ago but it was a long time ago that Welmoed, Carol, Anne Marie, and I all got together to enjoy one another's company and play in the garment district. Together we manage an online sewing discussion group. The times that we are all together are always, without exception, a blast. There is no one better to wander with in the garment district.

During one of those visits, we each bought a yard of the same fabric. A black mesh with a gathering line of elastic running vertically every inch or so and sprinkled with tiny heat set sequins.  I think we may have purchased the fabric at the store I have dubbed Kaballah Man. I no longer remember the price of the fabric but it was probably something between $5 and 10 per yard and was likely closer to $5  than to $10. We all promised one another that we would each make something with the fabric and share the results.

Anne Marie used her fabric to make a pretty evening jacket.  I no longer remember if she made just the sleeves out of this mesh or the entire jacket. My fabric ripened in my stash and every once in a while I would find the black sequinned mesh, remember our fun day together, and think about what I ought to make with it.

Last week it was finally time to bit the bullet. I decided to make a shrug.

I folded the fabric into quarters

and then cut away an arc of fabric. The selvedge ends were the sleeve hems. The elastic gathering was pretty enough that I wouldn't have to do any additional hemming.

 I sewed the underarm seams together.

Yes, that does look like a t-shirt minus an opening for your head. 

I serged the raw edge. It took less than fifteen minutes to make my little shrug.

Yesterday I wore my little shrug to a Zoom wedding with a black dress.

Today I took photos today of me wearing the shrug but wearing a dark blue-grey dress.

The shrug organizes itself into a pretty gathered collar.

I find that shrugs are the best use of pretty flashy fabrics that are not really enough yardage to make an entire garment. No, I didn't invent this. I have seen directions for similar shrugs in sewing books and periodicals going back to the 1940s. I have worn such shrugs under dresses to give the impression of sleeves. I have made several out of offcuts of knit dresses and then I have a little something to slip on when I am chilly. 

Go forth and sew.