Fancy Pants

My first real life, non-elastic pants with side zipper, sewn by me.


It all started with a vintage men's pajama pants pattern.


After altering the pj pattern a couple times to make it more fitted, I realized I could add a couple darts to the back, and a zipper to the side, and call it pants. I ended up adding a waist band instead of facing because I trimmed it down too low. Finally, I have pants with a waist band that fits me. It doesn't cut into my no-waist-having self.


I stay stitched the hem and let the fray stay.


These pants were made for my San Francisco trip. And, since I always feel like a country bumpkin when in the city, I thought I'd make it a theme — frayed hem and straw hat were worn with pride.


Do you see a uniform emerging? A style? Yokel couture, perhaps? I made my first French seams on these bad-boy bumpkins.


I'm feeling sassy with my made-by-me outfit.

Me 4.0 and Simplicity 3835

It took me a year to finally make the Built By Wendy, Simplicity 3835 pattern. I watched as everyone made cute shirt/tunic/dress after cute shirt/tunic/dress. While thinking that it looked great on them, I wondered if it would look maternity-ish on someone my size. The pattern only goes up to bust size 40 inches and I'm 46. Fortunately I remembered that on of my vintage-but-sized-for-larger-folk patterns it explained that, if you are larger than a B-cup, it's better to measure above the breasts and around the back to get a better measurement — when I do that, I'm 42 inches. So, after holding the pattern up to my body, and getting mom's opinion, and comparing it to my other favorite home-sewn, I skipped the muslin and went straight to cute polkadot quilter's cotton.

The modifications I made were: not adding the elastic on the sleeves (too puffy); adding a little to the front fold (about a half inch); adding additional length (because I'm tall); and adding the darts in back (like the dress version).

Make sure to follow the directions for the length of the elastic for the neck opening, which seems long, but, will flatter with its peek at your collar bones.

This shirt is so much better than stained, Old Gravy T-shirts in XXL, but it serves the same purpose — it's a classic mom uniform from way back, but now you get to use all the cute fabrics. It's utilitarian. It's easy. It's stash busting. It's fast (1 1/2 to 2 hours)! It's my favorite pattern, ever!

Did I scream yet about how much I LOVE THIS PATTERN?

So, even if you have big b**bs, and even if your waist size is the same as your age*, and even if you still have that baby belly — TRY THIS PATTERN. It even looks good on skinny girls. It's all good.

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*It's my 40th birthday today!!!!!

Skirts For Others

Day 320
Originally uploaded by becktress.


Day 321
Originally uploaded by becktress.

No deep thoughts lately, just sewing. I'm playing catch up on the posting because last month I only posted four times!

The top skirt was the result of an extended playdate. Sewing *can* happen with two moms and three kids. I measured and drafted an a-line skirt for my mom-friend, Gigi; then, sewed it up with her vintage upholstery-weight linen. She helped maintain a comfortable level of sanity with the children. Barking did happen, but it wasn't the grown-ups. I finished everything except the hand-stitching while they were here.

The bottom two photos are skirts that I made for my sister for her birthday. The top one is an Amy Butler print, the bottom one is denim. The interesting thing about the denim is that it looked really frumpy when I made it her normal length of 26 inches in the front. Shortening it made it look cuter, less of a bad 70s thing. I mean, there's good 70s and there's *bad* 70s — just sayin.

ROOTS

autumn2001
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


Roots
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


Future Farmer
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

ROOTS For Reading*
Once upon a time I worked on a very fun project, called ROOT, with my friends over at Mariquita Farm. It featured Andy's writings about life as it relates to food and growing food — he's a farmer with a philosophy major. Each issue was 18 pages and included a seasonal recipe or two. I had the unique pleasure of complete artistic control; from choosing the paper (yummy French paper and a cool sparkle paper that I forget the name of), to creating the illustrations, it was all me. I also got to employ a couple friends to take photos and make images — Blaize helped edit it. We even had a testimonial from Susie Bright. ROOT fulfilled my longtime dream of collaborative creative work amongst friends. We did one issue per season for four seasons.

ROOTS For Dinner
My favorite way to use up the leftover roots from my Two Small Farms CSA box, including the ones my family doesn't like, is to dice them up small; toss them with olive oil, salt, and an herb or two; and roast them at high heat until they're caramelized bits of perfection. I think I got the idea from this book. It's a great way to get turnips and beets into people who think they don't like them.

ROOTS For Fashion
I'm horrible with laundry and/or bibs, so we have a lot of stains around here. I remember seeing a cool stain cover up over at Little Green's Flickr. So, in anticipation of dressing my baby for today's harvest festival I did a root version of stain management.

*I'm sure Julia still has copies of ROOT that she would love to sell. You can contact her at julia[at]mariquita[dot]com.

New Vintage Wardrobe & Misc.

NVW_button
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

I know I should be posting a film strip style photo collection of myself as a follow up to the other two, but damn if I can't figure out some "fun idea." In addition to figuring out a theme I'd have to bathe, fix my hair, pluck hairs, match clothing, etc? That could take weeks.

Not much crafting is going on at my house these days. The little guy is walking and demanding a new level of attention.

Thank you to everyone who is still leaving comments. I used to reply sometimes, now it's almost never. I used to at least go visit the blogs of everyone who commented, but that's lessening, too. This two kid business is definitely busy. We survive by leaving the house, striving to have as much outdoor time as possible. I think I'm a couple years away from being back in tip top blogging shape. Until then I'll try and sneak in some crafting and posting at night and lurking to keep up with everyone.

On an exciting craft note, my friend Bethany from Bitter Betty is starting a sew-a-long of sorts called New Vintage Wardrobe. The idea is to sew contemporary clothes from vintage patterns and share the trials and tribulations with each other through blogs and the Flickr pool she started. She's already posted a couple of super cute outfits that her 11-year-old son photographed. Who knew mowing the lawn could be so fun.