In the Folds pants part 2

I have finished the top to go with the wide leg pants, so that as an outfit this will be a both a maxi dress alternative and a jumpsuit alternative. I used Simplicity 1430 (originally bought to make my ill-fated trousers). The only modifications I made were to lower the bust dart and shorten the body by a couple of centimetres.

A pillow makes a reasonable mannequin here, so you can see the front neck detail 

Close-up of the back neck detail

Unfortunately the weather this weekend has reverted back to winter, so it may be a while before I get to model this in person.

In the Folds wide leg pants - part 1

I have been thinking about palazzo pants for a long, long time - at least two summers now. I finally decided to make some after In the Folds and Peppermint Magazine put out a free wide leg pants pattern. And I'm really happy with them so far (having not worn them yet, apart from for fitting purposes).

I went to the Fabric Store and found this fabric, which I've already used to make my vintage dress (about two posts ago). It's such nice fabric (100% cotton, white asterisks on a textured navy background) that I decided to get another 3.5 metres. The plan is to make a sleeveless top from the same stuff, to wear with these super-wide leg but fitted at the waist and hips trousers - for a jumpsuit effect but without the bathroom-related impracticality. I reckon they will also look good with other, short and sleeveless tops.

Having an almost straight up and down figure, I cut a size C from hem to hip, then widened out to size E at the waist. I also added 2 cm to the back and front crotch curve, tapering to the inside seams at the knees. I have needed the latter adjustment in previous trouser patterns and thought I could always take these seams in if I didn't need them here. But it looks and feels fine with these adjustments. I also removed 4cm from the crotch length.

I wanted these to be full length as I'm not sure that a cropped wide leg would look very good on my short stature, so I didn't make any length adjustments. This worked out perfectly.

Also I left out the back darts. Instead, I took the sides in by about 1-1.5 cm at each side from hip to waist.

Its possible I could have just cut a straight size D and needed less taking in at the sides (but have a narrower seam at the waist).

The fit in the end is great. As soon as it's warm enough I'll be wearing these out and about with short tops! And posting a photo of me wearing them!

Household sewing

In preparation for the ban on single-use plastic bags that is coming (soon, I can't remember when exactly), I replaced a couple of our household essentials:

Our plastic peg holder completely fell apart, and I wasn't keen on buying another crappy bit of plastic so I sewed this out ofsome stretch cotton originally made (badly) into a skirt. The handle loops around one of those hooks that attach so effectively to belt loops

The plastic shopping bag we'd been using to hold re-usable cloth napkins (basically cut up rags) was used for rubbish collection so I made one up in scraps left over from my Tamarack test jacket.

And while we are looking at things that are brown and round -

Mushrooms on the roadside in spring? What the heck?!

Something came between TLM and her Calvins

I've been sewing up a storm. Last week I got out a sewing pattern for kids' Calvin Klein jeans (bought for $1 from an op shop) and a pair of jeans I'd made for myself two years ago (which I didn't wear because I kept having to hitch them up) - and made jeans for The Little Madam.

Thankfully TLM is no clothes snob. She doesn't care whether I buy her jeans from Just Jeans, Farmers or The Warehouse, And she was pretty pleased that I made her some jeans. The fabric is super stretchy, which she likes as that makes them really soft and comfy.

I re-used the patch pockets from the original jeans, so they're massive on her.

By the time I was done with the resizing, the front pockets were quite high so I had to re-do the coin pocket

They were a bit loose around the waist so I inserted some buttonhole elastic and sewed on the belt loops from the original pair. I might use buttonhole elastic next time I make trousers for myself!

On reaching THAT milestone

It looks like I have finally stopped needing to pollute the world with used menstrual products.

Of course, TLM is likely to pick up the baton in the next while (I give it a year), so I guess it's not really getting us closer to greenness!

What's it to be - hair or weight? Neither.

For the last two years I have experienced weight loss (and I'm talking about a difference of half a dress size to one full size) coinciding with hair loss, followed by weight gain and hair re-growth.

At first I thought the weight was caused by actual effort on my part, and the hair loss was caused by the weight loss.

But last autumn I shed both hair and body fat, yet I hadn't made any significant changes to my diet exercise. But there was still link between going bald and being able to fit into smaller jeans than before.

I started to think - if I could choose, would I prefer to be thin and bald, or fat and have a full head of hair? I couldn't decide. It's so nice to be a size 10 (NZ size) rather than a 12. But it's so nice to not  have to wear a wig or hat or feel self conscious about my head's resemblance to a kiwifruit.

It turns out that not only do I not get to choose, but maybe this summer I'm going to be fat and bald. Because in the last week I have had to get out my fat(ter) clothes again, yet I still have almost no eyebrows (and very little head hair).