moving day

Well kids, I'm gearing up for what has become an annual tradition of moving apartments. I have moved every year, in one form or another, since I graduated high school. Think about how wretched that is. A self-imposed wretchedness apparently because I'm never quite content.  The crazy part is that I've stayed in the same city that whole time, so it's not even like it's a result of wanderlust or necessary relocations.

I've held out for days, but it is time to pack that beautiful SINGER machine up until its unveiling at the new flat in the next neighborhood over.

So long, Myrtle Ave. It's been fun.

tutorial: pants-to-skirt remix

I've gotten a few requests for info on how the pants-to-skirt remix, so here are some tips. Warning, I don't work well with rulers or precise measurements so you may have to tweak my estimates. Another warning, if you could care less about boring sewing instructions, skip this post and have a lovely evening.

The scoop:

1. I cut off the desired length (plus an additional two inches or so to account for the ruffle). You don't need to take into account hem allowances, because we are attaching a ruffle to the bottom. With a stitch ripper, open the seams on the inner leg up beyond the crotchal region.

2. This leaves you with some funny little flaps from the crotch of the pants that you need to even up and cut off. Still, the fabric won't match up into a perfect seam but it seems to be a trend I've seen with jean skirts so I figured it was ok (see the note on the picture here and you'll understand what I mean).

3. From here I folded under the raw edges about 1/4" and topstitched the two sides together on both front and back. I always have trouble at this part because I don't lie the fabric flat or taut enough and end up creating really awkward pouches and points and puckers. Went ok this time.

4. For the ruffle, I cut off the existing hem from each leg of the lounge pants, ripped open one short seam on each and then attached the short ends together so i had one gigantic hem. It should look like the bottom of one leg of a massive pair of pants. I used pinking shears to finish off the top of the ruffle because I attached it to the top of the skirt and didn't want a raw edge to fray. You could also fold under the raw edge or, of course, attach the ruffle so that you don't see the raw edge at all. (With right sides together, match the raw edges of the ruffle and skirt and straight stitch around. Press seam towards hem.)

5. I pinned this new hem it to the raw bottom edge of the skirt (with approx. 1" overlap), folding it back on itself (approx. 1/2") every 5 inches to create the ruffle. Then I straight stitched close to the top of the ruffle.

By pure coincidence, the pattern matches up fairly well in its skirt form. Hasta luego, wide-legged monsters. These directions are probably confusing, so feel free to email/comment with any questions.

wide-leg lounge pants, the remix

Before & after:

Yes, I turned those ridiculously unflattering wide-leg lounge pants from last month's InStitches project into a pretty pretty skirt. Sewed some WIDE-ASS pant legs together, added a ruffle & voila! Sorry for the recent low-quality photos, our dark & gloomy apartment is conspiring against my compulsive picture-taking. After June 1, a U-Haul and several sweaty hours later I hope to find that our new place is a bit brighter than this one.

mother's day update

Handmade, reversible placemats and napkins for Mom.

a tribute

So, we get together every Thursday evening for Thursday Night Dinner Club, aka Goddess Night. And we have done this just about every week since all of us lady birds have flown the nest (school, massachusetts, etc.) and scattered about. Sometimes we shop, sometimes we cinema, always we dine. And inevitably, always always we sit for hours and talk.

"What can you possibly talk about for that long?"

"Oh. Girl stuff."

Mom usually brings a book, a magazine, an article or all three with words of wisdom. She also tries to pawn off just about everything she owns on us.

"Great sweater, is that new?"

"Yeah, I just bought it yesterday. Do you want it?"

"No, Mom. It's yours."

We chat, we bitch, we laugh and laugh and laugh. Every day, every week we meet Mom the Person, not just Mom the Caretaker, the Provider, the Parent. We push each other through tough decisions, crushing disappointments, overwhelming stress and moments of sadness.

Every week feels like a celebration. I guess we are celebrating how lucky we are to have each other around, to have these goddess nights.

"I wish my mom and I had that kind of relationship."

"Yeah, I'm the luckiest daughter in the world."

Happy Mother's Day.

a bag for sister

I finished this a week ago, but waited to post it until Sister had seen the bag in person. I originally intended the bag to look like this:But it came out looking like this:

Which, sure, was the general idea of the original design. In person, however, it wasn't looking very impressive. Or even decent. The interfacing was acting up all crazy and the bag turned into a stiff, uneven toaster cover. So ladies and gents, I present to you PLAN B:

A semi-reversible spring tote, complete with pockets for the cell phone, a pen and pencil and sunglasses. And some green ribbon detailing. To be honest, I didn't want to give it away to Sister. But, ya know, I did. 'Cuz that's how we roll. Enjoy.

the widest-legged pants. ever.

First, thank you Jade! Yesterday, I received this lovely package for the mellow + yellow swap. I am obsessed with these fabric swatches she sent... just trying to figure out a good project to use them for. Also, some great embroidery floss for my growing addiction, blue buttons and these little hip notebooks. So simple, and I love the notebook cover she made! For pictures of other swaps gifts, check out the flickr page.

Second, I just finished April's In Stitches project-- only 10 hours after deadline. I freaked out on my machine's malfunctioning buttonhole feature until I realized I had forgotten to change the stitch width. Durrh. So after that, smooth sailing.

However, are these not the most ridiculously WIDE-LEGGED pajama pants you have ever set eyes on? (The sewists all agreee, check us out.)

I mean, seriously. Look at them. They are awkward and then once I hemmed them to fit my 5'2" frame they looked even crazier. I would have posted a picture of me wearing them, but I have too much pride for that.

Wide-legged, full-length, gypsy print gauchos + my body= DISASTER

They were a nice, easy project though and my first pair of pants. That being said, I plan on ripping them apart STAT. I will then make the remains into a skirt. A beautiful beautiful skirt.