All together now...

Finished top & pant combo:


Obviously I need a tank under it, which I don't have in the right color. Dang. And I'm leaving in the morning at 9:30 a.m. to go to Little Rock for 3 days, so I better get busy if I'm gonna make one. Otherwise, white tank it will be.

The top was a booger when it came to the elastic insertion at the waist. I ended up forgoing the instructions (who, me?) and just applying the elastic to the waist seam a'la a waistband. (i.e. divide in 1/4's then pin to side seams and front/back. Stretch to fit & zigzag on.) Then I flipped the elastic/seam combo down and topstitched it (from the wrong side. Is that still technically topstitching?)

I'll do a review at PR tonight while its fresh on my mind, but I definitely will make another of these tops! It's pretty cute, in a slouchy, I'm gonna be in a car all day but still need to look semi-presentable when I arrive kind of way.

More later so stay tuned...

Spring Break!

I heart spring break. (Girls Gone Wild behavior notwithstanding.)

So far I altered this pattern for a FBA and cut it out of dk brown crinkle gauze (to go with capri's below, in the shirred shoulder view)...


and made these capri's


I haven't threaded the elastic/drawstring combo in the waist yet. You might notice they're about 2 inches too long for capri's!! I added to the length of this pattern because I have a pair with the leg drawstrings (that I love) but they're about 2 inches shorter than I'd like... and my calves just aren't what they used to be. :P I don't have a clue where I went wrong...but it must have been some sort of error on my part on the original drawstring pair because these definitely DON'T need added length!!! Argh. Now I have to cut them off and try to hem them even. And, as I mentioned to my sewing buddy Shannon, the print will make my a$$ look a mile wide, but I'm not really caring at this point :D They have a comfy pajama pant feel to them, and I'm loving them.

Note the hideous fabric mess in my corner cabinet, LOL. Lu has been searching for JUST THE RIGHT FABRIC for her next outfit. She does pretty good, but I always have veto power (as a good Queen always should). I keep my quilting cottons in this cabinet that once sat in the corner of my grandparents' home and was filled with linens and their medicine. It fell to me after they died, as did a few other pretty pieces, and I store my fabric in it because it has all those "windows". It makes me happy to see it all neatly (usually, that is) lined up by color.

You're right at the end of my sewing area here too. I'll be painting the paneled walls (old house) this summer, a pale grey/aqua color, with white trim. I can't wait! I'm hoping to save up enough to replace my sewing cabinet/furniture too...just plain white pressboard stuff is fine with me. I actually think office furniture might work just as well as sewing furniture. I just want a nice clear sewing space. I hate my sewing cabinet, although I can't really complain about it since my parents bought it for me for Christmas. It obviously wasn't designed by someone who actually sews, because there's this shelf that hits me right at shin-level under the cabinet (for storing your machine when it's closed up). Only problem is , it actually HITS MY SHIN every time I sit down to sew.

Consequently, my 'nina is currently sitting on the kitchen table, preventing the type of homey, conversation garnering family dinners that Stouffer's is so anxious for all of us to have. You know, so we can video tape it and win a trip to Disney.

I'm lucky in that I have half of a huge room I can dedicate to my sewing "crap" (as the kids so lovingly call it). So I want it to be pretty. I'm looking for artwork and stuff now. Er, I WAS. Until yesterday when I went to check the price of this fabulous stretched canvas print at Hobby Lobby and broke a plate. (Which they didn't make me pay for.) And then walked right into a shelf and knocked off 2 candleholders. At which point, they were looking worriedly at my kids like I was probably a drunk, and who has their cellphone so we can call DHS RIGHT AWAY. The kids & I hightailed it outta there pronto.

Did I mention I love Spring Break?

Ciao!
a.

p.s. Hotpatterns has a line of new easy to sew patterns. With diagrams and detailed instructions. FOR A TUBE TOP. I swear. I can't make this stuff up.

Half a Woman. Or Less.

I sew. Right? I'm inspired by designers...by all kinds of things. I tend to fall in love with a particular pattern maker or designer & religiously buy all their patterns...even if I end up never sewing ONE. It's a sickness, I'll admit it.

But I'm drawing the line at Khaliah Ali...who turned my pattern world upside down a couple of years ago when she debuted a Plus line through Simplicity. Cute, trendy styles in larger sizes. No One was DOING THIS. She, simply put, rocked. She personally modeled the patterns...and looked great. Proof below.


Then, shortly after, she chose to have gastric bypass surgery to lose weight. Frankly, I don't see her weight as being of the "gastric bypass surgery" level in those pictures. (But perhaps she had already started losing weight when these were taken? I really can't say. )

What I CAN say is that in her next collection she still looked fabulous, but obviously thinner...and her patterns were now available in smaller sizes (not just Plus). I was saddened by the GB Surgery information. It seems like such an extreme measure to take to lose weight.


And....sadly...this is a current collection photo from her Simplicity line...


She no longer looks good.

Her color is off, she's wan and somewhat "peaked" as my grandma would say. She just doesn't look well. I've seen this look in many a GB patient, frankly. It's usually due to MALNUTRITION.

People. STOP. Just stop. There is no reason to risk your life to fit into smaller jeans. There's no reason to give up your health, your sanity, a million thoughts a day because you feel that you're too "fat". Just eat. Ok? Love who you are, what you are, and if you don't....work on fixing THAT. And I'm not talking about body size. What if you were blind? Or paralyzed? Or on dialysis because of failing kidneys? Or sick with Stage 4 ovarian cancer? Would you be having gastric bypass then so you can be thin? Nope. Thin would probably be the furthest thing from your mind.

As a society we spend way too much time worried about the size of our a$$es. Mine is currently "too big" according to society's standards. I will never win an Oscar in a bone skimming (oops, I mean body-skimming) silk slip dress.

I won't say I'll never win an Oscar though.

You see, I believe in my self worth. I believe that I am something to be reckoned with. And that has nothing to do with the size of my a$$. It has everything to do with the person I am inside. Talent, ambition, grace, style. These things have nothing to do with a number on a scale that doesn't exist outside of gravity.

Love yourself. Whatever and whoever you are. Because you are really that special...and you can DO ANYTHING. Believe that...and you'll see how unimportant that number sewn into a scrap of denim really is.

a.