The Adventures of Sunshine Gypsy: Fashion Designer Extraordinaire

While in Cairns a few months ago I bought a pair of harem pants. They’re super comfy and I wanted more pairs, however, you can’t exactly go to the nearest hippie store in Kavieng and grab a couple pairs mainly because hippie stores don’t exist there. This led me to the conclusion that if I wanted more pairs I’d have to make them and there are a number of fabric stores. I enlisted Momma Lucy’s help and together we got to work on our newest fashion line featuring Harem Pants, Hammer Pants, and Skousers.

Lucy spoke mostly Pidgin to me. I understood most things, but there were a few times I was lost and the project came to a brief standstill. At one point I was laying out fabric to be cut. Lucy said "Rousim!" I know what this word means and can not only understand it in a sentence but demonstrate my understanding by using it in a sentence... Rousim light (turn off the light)... Rousim kai kai (throw up)... Rousim trousers bilong mi (take off my pants). See, I know what rousim means in a sentence, but when Lucy randomly told me to rousim I was a bit confused. Rousim what? We went back and forth a few times with her repeating rousim and me guessing at what I was supposed to get rid of to which she would reply, "NO! ROUSIM!!" After about 2 minutes of this back and forth I couldn't handle it anymore. I balled up the fabric and threw it on the ground and said "There! I rousim-ed it!" This greatly displeased Lucy and she began yelling at me to pick the fabric back up and lay it out on the table again. Once I did this she said "Openim." Ahhh, sweet clarity! Open the fabric, as in unfold it, as in rousim. It all makes sense now. There were a number of these miscommunications, some of them requiring dramatic acts before a state of understanding was achieved, but in the end we always managed to sort it out.

In the end I learned one very valuable lesson. If you mix enough trial and error with miscommunication you'll eventually end up with success.

Me and Momma Lucy at the start of our sewing adventure.

Cutting the fabric based on the measurements from the
harem pants I bought in Cairns.

They look a little funky. I was a bit worried after we cut them out.

But they turned out great!

I even made a pocket. It's a bit low but I'll
adjust that for future pairs.

Creation number 2... Skousers. They're not trousers and they're
not a skirt, but they're both... Skousers.

Momma Lucy hard at work.

At one point she stopped and said "You sew now." I wanted a photo
of it so I set up my camera and was in the process of showing her
how to use it when she snapped a photo.

There I am sewing away on an old school hand
crank sewing machine.

Davos thought he'd help by picking up the scraps for me.
Such a thoughtful puppers.

Hey look, a skirt...

Oh, but wait, they're trousers.

Jack just hanging out on the deck while
Lucy and I slaved away.

Davos looking innocent, but really he was
up to no good. We call him trouble
because he's always up to trouble. It doesn't
matter how many heart to hearts we have
about NOT getting into trouble all he
hears is trouble then says "Trouble? You got it
mom!" and scampers off to get into mischief.

A cool shot that came of me teaching Lucy to use my camera.

Lucy hates it when I take photos of her so I often take a series of
10... 15... 20 photos and what starts out as a grumpy face ends
in a smile and I get the shot I want while she screams about how
I need to delete all of them immediately. Of course, I keep them all.

Kiss Kiss thought my fabric bag was a comfy bed.

Captain Destructo shredded newspaper, a cardboard box,
a coconut husk, and scraps of fabric. Doesn't matter how many
toys I bring him from Australia he still feels the need to chew on
everything. There's also a collection of shoes on/around the deck
from his stealth mode outings to the neighbors' houses where he
steals their shoes off their decks and brings them home to chew on
them. Naughty, naughty puppy!