Girard Portfolio: October 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Making the Traditional Skirt

The traditional skirt begins with 2 yards of 2 different kinds of fabric that compliment each other. Make sure the fabric is washed and ironed before your begin to cut.
Use an imperial measure tape, fold the first fabric and measure down 18 inches. Cut 2 lengths of 18 inches.
Sew 2 lengths together at the edge seam so that you have a very wide 'tube'.
At the top of the skirt, fold a small edge fold and iron. Fold again an inch and sew along the first fold. This will be the elastic casing waist band. Leave just enough room for the elastic and a safety pin to make its way through.
Measure a piece of elastic that will suit your waist. Place a safety pin at one end and make your way through the casing. Join the ends, sew and close up the opening. The waist is complete.
Next you will add a contrasting width of 3 widths of fabric 12 inches wide. Once they are cut, sew them together to make a large closed up width of fabric.
Now it is time to baste stitch the top of this fabric by making a double line of the widest stitch you can make (by hand or by machine). Gather it to fit the bottom of the first length of fabric.
Sew the gathered fabric onto the skirt top placing right sides together, pinning, then stitching.
Topstitch the bottom of the skirt top section.
Now cut 3 widths of fabric in the first pattern you used but this time 6 inches in length. Sew the sides together so it is ready to add onto the bottom of the skirt.
With right sides together, pin and sew this bottom trim onto the end of the skirt for a finishing. Add a border, ribbons or simply hem the skirt as you wish and you have successfully finished the traditional skirt.

Biography

My childhood has been delineated by my marauding father who joined the Forces to have us uprooted from place to place: stationed in Picton, Prince Edward County, Petawawa, the Rhone Valley, Germany, and Edmonton. Finally I concluded my high school days in Timmins, Ontario, my birthplace.

I graduated from Queen’s in Kingston in 1974 with a minor in art history and history followed by a teaching degree in secondary visual arts education the following year, 1975. At Queen's, I was instructed by Jennifer Dickson, Trevor Hodgson and Allen Dickinson. In 1975, I began exploring painting with wax using the traditional Javanese tjanting needles on textile and exhibited in a student show.

In the early years in my education career, I travelled to northern Ontario to the James Bay region and worked as an arts & crafts co-ordinator. I learned more from them at that point than they me.

In the late seventies, I saw the work of Joyce Devlin in North Gower and was observant of her exquisite portraits and layers of acrylic paint.

I left teaching and travelled to work as an artist in Montreal. There I handmade folk clothing and accessories using the wax resist techniques on natural fibres I had learned years earlier.

In Ste. Rose north of Montreal island I began my family and in 1980 Emilie was born. Soon in 1982 Camille followed and I returned with my husband to Ottawa and gave birth to Andrea in 1983. In the 1980’s I returned to the teaching profession and was employed with the Ottawa Carleton Catholic School Board for 13 years working solely at St. Mark’s in Manotick.

In the early 1990’s I moved to Kemptville and began working with watercolour being attracted to its fluid line and challenging techniques. I was introduced to an academic method of watercolour by the artist, Jaw Shaw then in Oxford Mills. Her knowledge and careful manipulations still impress me and have influenced my work. I exhibited with her and a group of artists in Oxford Mills at the stackwall building next to the dam. I also exhibited with the North Grenville Art Guild at this time, showing a series of watercolours of historic buildings in the area. I worked behind the scenes in set design with the Kemptville Players and later became part of the leadership team of the Dandelion Festival, North Grenville. In the late 1990’s I taught Visual Arts Education in the Education Faculty of the University of Ottawa as a part-time professor to 2003. I transferred in 2000 to teach at St. Michael’s Catholic High School and retired from formal education in June 2010.

Presently I am exploring the medium of encaustic painting soon becoming a new series. I hope you enjoy these blogs as a new series comes to completion.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Making the Traditional Skirt