Plaid Pencil

This was sort of a refashion. I pulled apart a dress I didn’t like and used the fabric to make a skirt. So I shopped for fabric in my own closet…yup. Now I’m sure you’re thinking if it was a dress you cut off the top part add a waistband and boom! Skirt. Yeah, no. When the dress is cheap and the plaid doesn’t match-up you need to tear it all apart and start new.

See. Matching. I have a black pencil skirt that I used as a pattern for my new one. When I say pattern, I pretty much just needed to know how wide to make it and how to curve from the hips through the thighs.

One great thing about the dress, it had a lining so I used it again in the skirt. Plaid, stretchy fabric and tights don’t mix. By the time I would walk all the way into work, I would end up with a belt.

The waistband on the skirt ended up being really thin. Not really a big deal because I don’t tuck my shirts in. If for some reason I changed my mind, a wide belt would suffice to cover the weirdness.

Decently easy project to put together. Plus I was really needing more cold weather skirts. I’m such a skirt girl anymore. Yay for no pants days!

Camera Wrist Strap

Hubby gifted me a new camera over the holiday. Have I mentioned he’s awesome? Anyways… When I would use my film SLR camera I always wound the neck strap around my hand and would shoot that way. I guess common sense finally hit me and I decided to make a wrist strap.

I had a few clips in my stash and I pulled a few different fabrics to choose from. I ended up with a hot pink broadcloth and satin. Two completely different ends of the spectrum in fabric types but whatever.

The clips I have, have a 1″ wide space for the fabric to loop through. I cut my fabric at 11″ by 2 1/4″. This gave me a 1″ wide band and about a 10″ loop for my wrist.

I wasn’t thinking fully by the time I got to this project. (I was binge sewing 😜) I didn’t figure in space to sew a square with an ‘X’ to give the strap a bit more security near the clip. I sewed two lines near the clip and called it a day.

I really like how it turned out. If I do decide to make a neck strap, I’ll be sure to add in space for a more secure set of stitches. I’m really spazzy about the camera so I’ll hang onto the camera at all times but the wrist strap is really just a safe guard if it slips out of my fingers.

FYI: I used this at a concert earlier in the week and it really was perfect. The camera felt safe and secure the entire time. Super happy!

Purple Thurlows

I seem to have boarded the Thurlow train rather late. But then again, I didn’t really start sewing my own clothes until about two years ago. I chose the Thurlow pattern by Sewaholic as my first fitted pants pattern. I have another pattern I bought awhile back but I couldn’t resist the Thurlow pattern after seeing some great ones from some of my favorite sewing bloggers.

I picked up the purple suiting at Mood in NYC. It was my only purchase there. I would have bought so much more but as I mentioned before, all the fantastic fabric is so overwhelming.

In the growing lists of firsts with this project, I made a muslin. I don’t make them. I feel no need for them with skirts or shirts because I’ll just adjust as I go. Probably not the best practice to keep. The muslin ended up looking like clown pants because I ran out of muslin fabric and used some weird yellow cotton I had in my stash. In other words, you don’t get to see it.

I read through the instructions several times before beginning. These instructions are not made for someone that has never made pants before so beware first timers. Luckily, Lladybird has a sew-a-long on the Thurlows. I found it so helpful! Big thanks to her and her awesome self.

Here’s the finished product. Beautiful purple pants! I’ve wanted purple pants for years but never found any dress ones for work. They surprisingly look great with a t-shirt.

I adjusted these pants after I had them completely done. That meant tearing out all kinds of stitches then putting it all back together. Why did I do this? Two words: saggy crotch. It looked like I was trying to smuggle something in there. And of all places. Really!?! All I needed to do was take out some space from the waist to make them tighter and sit higher. I still think there could be more adjustments made to the fit but screw it! I’m happy and I’ll wear them.

Continuing with the firsts, double welt pockets. They don’t look too bad for my first try. I probably should have practiced but whatever. Guess I should have used the lint roller a little more heavily. Also, not sure why it looks Barney purple in this shot.

They fit the booty. This is the part I was worried about most. I think this where making the muslin helped.

Slash pockets. I have one pair of rtw pants that have slash pockets and I love them.

Speaking of pockets. Check out my pocket lining. That’s black with shiny, glittery pinstripes. That came from my fabric stash from many years ago. I may have used it on a purse.

FYI, no I’m not one of those people that need my phone every second of everyday. It acts as the remote for my camera. So expect to see it more often if I can’t get better at hiding it.