Another Esme, Easter, and necessity

Necessity is the mother of invention- or as Plato penned in The Republic, "our need will be the real creator"

Plato’s philosophy is definitely on over-drive this Spring as creative solutions are plied every day- from finding alternatives to personal protective equipment, elastic, real life gatherings, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and so on.

This holiday weekend I got creative in light of shortages, and the end result is better than if I wasn’t caught short handed. I needed a palette cleansing project after making face coverings all week, and I also craved something to brighten up Easter in isolation. I knew I had a sweet Easter themed fabric in my stash: Cotton and Steele’s Wlldwood Fable.  I bought a yard of this last year from Lakes Makerie, because when I stopped in the owner was making adorable table runners out of this fabric.  I simply couldn’t resist the squirrels and bunnies and left with a yard of it- just because.  A yard is pretty limiting, but I was determined to make something festive that I could wear for our Easter zoom gathering with my family.  

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So I squeezed out a simple little top. I knew the Esme top in Lotta Jansdotter’s book Everyday Style would be a quick make. And here is the necessity and invention part of the story: because I couldn’t make the sleeves as long as I like- I used the selvedge of the fabric to create a decorative hem detail. 

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If I had enough fabric to make the top, I wouldn’t have added the little sleeve finishing detail.  But I think this feature makes the top more interesting.

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I also used a wide bias tape remnant to keep the top as long as possible>

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Here’s another happy result of creative problem solving.  My Mom and Dad typically host our annual Easter Holiday family gathering.  This year, due to the pandemic and stay home orders, we set up a Zoom meeting for the 33 members of their family.  Halfway through the virtual party and after several updates from children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, my mom noted that the online get together was in some ways better than the typical Easter party.  For one, it was the first time the whole family was “together” for Easter in many years.   In addition, my mom noted that this year she could listen to all the kids and grandkids; because when we celebrate in person at her house, she’s often busy in the kitchen and misses many of the updates.

And, here’s another solution found due to need. I didn’t have any egg dye, but found a way to decorate the Easter eggs in a new and pretty way.

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