29 January 2019

The Sewing Of Wedding Bedding


Our niece got married during the Yuletide season. As a wedding gift my sister Song and I combined forces. She and my brother-in-law bought a lovely king-size down comforter and my husband and I provided the duvet cover for it. I texted the niece: "What are your and your fiance's favorite colors . . . asking for a friend!" "Blue and green" she replied. Fortunately, I had various fabrics in both colors in my long-time stash. And a simple pattern as well! 

 Kwik Sew Pattern 2958

Our dining room table serves double duty as my sewing table. With the duvet being king-sized, I was glad that the table has extra leaves!




While it was all straight line sewing, it still took some time to get all of the pieces together.





The fabrics were all cotton. The green leaf squares and the blue-green pinstripes had a soft, brushed surface and the borders were of a medium weight, sky blue denim or twill. The backing was a slightly heavier weight upholstery fabric. I loved the many leaf patterns and how the colors and design echoed those of the top pieces.





 The finished duvet was simple and elegant.






Wrapping the gift was fun too! We'd missed the bridal shower which, given the holiday, was a Christmas ornament party. So we attached an ornament to the ribbon (which was not a ribbon at all but a length of blanket binding from my sewing kit).




Writer and imagineer par excellence, Neil Gaiman, wrote a wedding poem for some friends. Many people have asked if they could read it or gift it to friends of theirs who were marrying. He has said yes to all. Here is his poem (with the link to his original post at the end.) Very best wishes to our niece and new nephew!


This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.

Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,
and not to be alone.

It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you
or send for the army to rescue them.

It's not two broken halves becoming one.
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together.

So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing,
like a book without pages or a forest without trees.

Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.

And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet,  and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.


And that's all I know about love.

"Wedding Thoughts: All I Know About Love" Neil Gaiman
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2017/10/wedding-thoughts-all-i-know-about-love.html


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