Tag Archives: too much talk

October 12, 2010 · 4:14 pm

Les pantalons

 

The Ultimate Jeans?

 

Pants.

Or trousers, for those of you for whom the word “pants” conjures up visions of underthings. “Trousers” just seems like something my grandmother wears—probably polyester with  an elastic waist and permanent-press creases. Ah, the delights of our diverging language. (Side question—d’you think all this internet business will help bring the vernacular slang of the far-flung contingents of English speakers a little closer into alignment? For example, if it weren’t for the internet I might not know that a vest is also a waistcoat or a gilet, OR that it is also a tank-top or a camisole. Likewise the pants as trousers or pants as panties.)

Anyway… some of you have been around to witness the supposed triumphs of my great Jeans Quest. It hasn’t been completely easy, but it hasn’t been as brutally hard as many of the  pants-fitting struggles I’ve read about. I’ve followed the basic mantra, “when in doubt, take it in,” and mostly done alright. You have no idea the feeling of freedom and lightness this brings to me. It means that I can now, for the first time, have the perfect pair of jeans (barring my own technical limitations) on demand. All I need is some good, sturdy stretch denim. Buffalo Jeans, Silver, Pepe, Guess—all you expensive jeans companies that discontinue my favorite styles, or don’t make your inseams quite long enough, or just decide that this year EVERYTHING is going to come with holes in—can go jump in a lake. I’ll make my own jeans, thank you very much.

This is awesome.

But, it has awakened a thought in me. You see, in this world, having conquered the Denim, it occurs to me that there is something else out there. Yes, something that is…

Pants that aren’t jeans.

 

Pants that aren't jeans...

 

I know, I have a hard time wrapping my head around this as well. I have owned a few pairs over the years—the leather ones from the vintage store I bought in high school that never really fit (being high-waisted and made for someone with a 24″ waist… not something I had even when I was 17). The army surplus cargo pants, of course, which were my uniform for a while (they went with the shaved head and red plaid jacket…). The mens’ vinyl pants with the lacing all the way up the side… they are fun, but obviously for a very specific usage. Then there was that plain black pair of trousers I bought for that job interview back when I was finishing my Master’s. I didn’t like them, but I didn’t want to wear jeans to the interview, and felt a skirt (my usual go-to when denim is not quite stylish enough) would be too fussy and girly for a preperator’s position interview. This is a job that involves banging up rocks, not answering phones and typing up reports. I should note that the five or so people in the panel interviewing me were all wearing jeans ;). Anyway, I didn’t like them when I bought them, and never wore them again. But there is still that non-jean pants-shaped hole in my wardrobe. And now that I am sewing, perhaps I should be moving to address it.

But I’m still confused. What should pants that aren’t jeans look like? What colours are good? What fabrics? What kind of pockets? I’m a big fan of the patch pockets on jeans because my rather under-sized bottom needs all the ornament it can get. But I have a feeling these wouldn’t look right on… trousers. So what, then? Flap pockets? Welt pockets?

Then there’s the leg. I’m a big fan of tight and skinny in jeans—or at least, not flared. But this is also a very young look, and presumably not what I’m looking for in Grown-Up Pants. So what, then? Straight from thigh down? A subtle boot cut? These things run round and round in my head. And once I start moving away from the skinnies, I start to contemplate…

Pants that aren’t stretch.

I know, it boggles my mind, too. Discovering stretch denim, like low-rise jeans, was a major revolution in my life.

 

Pants that aren't stretch

 

My first pair of really awesome, low-rise, stretch-denim jeans (which I think I didn’t get until after Tyo was born, actually) was the moment when I went “Aha! This is my pant. THIS is the item of clothing I have been looking for since I was fourteen!”

But there are a few pairs of pants that aren’t stretch that have crept into my wardrobe over the years. The army cargos, of course, though I now only wear those for fieldwork. Most particularly, there’s a pair of “pseudo army pants,”—ultra-girlified low-rise camo pants with asymmetrical mini cargo-pockets, lots of studs, and a huge embroidery of snakes, skulls, and an eagle on one leg. The’re awesome, in a totally-casual, not-at-all-grown-up way… but the point is that they fit perfectly (and snugly!) in the hip/butt, and then extend seamlessly into a nice wide-leg pant. And they’re still comfy. If I had a fit like that in a less, ah, statement piece, it could really be versatile. As it is, I wear them about four times a year.

All this is without stepping into the slippery territory of “rise”. I abandoned high-rise jeans as soon as I could, partly because they never fit my figure (I have a big waist relative to my tiny bottom/no hips), and partly because at that point in my life it was pretty much my mission to show off as much abdomen as the weather would allow. Fashion and age have pushed me away from the crop-top, bare-belly look, but I’ve clung to the low-rise. They look right. They feel right. I just can’t let go of that long-ago “aha” moment. Sewing may let me fit high-rise pants to my own (lack of) shape, but it can’t remove my obsession with waist-rolls or the fact that I don’t have that teeny-tiny cinched-in waist. I know plenty of people have their own hate-on for the low rise, with plenty of good reason. I’ll just say that for me, with my body, it works. Will I explore beyond it? maybe I will. We’ll see. I gotta tell you it scares the pants of me.

Also, I need to find some red stretch twill. I saw some awesome red pants on TV the other night—red jeans with white lacing on the inside thighs. SO fun. I’ve been thinking I need red pants… (not in that practical ‘this would be a really useful addition to my wardrobe’ kind of way. More in the OMG that’s so awesome and fun kind of way.)

So what do you think? What are you looking for in the perfect pair of pants? How do you step it up a notch beyond jeans? What on earth should pants that aren’t jeans look like?

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October 8, 2010 · 11:33 am

Heading off…

Bambi v. 2

I really had hoped the last few days would be more productive, but alas. Instead of a cute new sleep-set to take away with me, all I have is a half-stitched bodice about to be bundled away into the basement so my sewing clutter doesn’t drive my husband as nuts while I’m away as it does when I’m here. The downside of this thin voile, as you can see, is that the enclosed seam allowances still show through. Ah, well. Not much I can do about it.

My one (attempt) at innovation this time—I attached the bust pieces at the centre front along a short seam. I’m hoping this will give just enough room to allow me to sew the skirt to the top portion in a circle and enclose the whole seam, giving a nicer finish to the inside (like the inside of a collar). Typicaly this would be topstitched or stitched in the ditch, but I’m not great at that finish in these situations, so I may end up doing it by hand. We’ll see. Here’s a closeup of my attachment:

But pieces joined at centre front

And the decorative stitching I attempted on the straps. Getting it to go straight without pulling on the strap so much it distorted the stitching was pretty much impossible, but I’m hoping it gives it a subtly attractive texture. 😉

Fancy stitching no one will ever notice

I’ll be in Pittsburgh late tomorrow night, after zig-zagging across the continent (hooray for cheap flights :P), and be back home equally late Thursday. I’ve attempted to prepare a couple of posts for while I’m away, but it certainly won’t be my daily blurbs (not that those have been too spectacular this week anyway). I’ve been so proud of my more-or-less daily posting! Though realistically that’s going to have to taper off a bit anyway.

Now, wise readers—what do I need to see/do in Pittsburgh? (Keeping in mind that I’ll be downtown without a car). I hear there’s an awesome notions place… anywhere else? (And for the leads I’ve already gotten, thanks—I’ll get back to you soon!)

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October 1, 2010 · 8:13 am

Self-Stitched September: Lessons?

Self-Stitched September 24

Looking back

It seems obligatory to do a post on the things learnt from Self-Stitched September, the impact it has had on me, especially since I hadn’t done the Me-Made-May challenge. So here goes.

The Good:

  • I had enough pieces to get me through. I’ve been trying hard to focus on practical sewing this time around, and aside from the odd venture into pouffy-skirt territory, I’ve been pretty successful. A big thank-you to everyone who pushed me towards a “full” commitment. It’s good to stretch ourselves a little.
  • It pushed me to get more creative with my outfits—layering Lydias and JJs or the Danielle Dress over jeans, even finding ways to style my Kasia skirt—which I still have issues with.
  • it pushed me to “step it up” with my photos to reduce the boredom of photographing repeat outfits. Though my photo-quality is still pretty spotty, I think.
  • it pushed me to make use of borderline pieces that I probably wouldn’t get much use out of otherwise—like my first black Lydia with the wonky shoulders, or my ex-capri Jalie Jeans, which fit fine but have some construction, ah, idiosyncrasies.
  • it clarifies a lot of things about what I like to wear.

The Bad:

  • Boring! Although I had enough pieces to get through (without doing laundry every other day), it gets old rotating the same two pairs of pants and the same few shirts, especially when weather necessitated layering or omitting the more summery items. I didn’t get a lot of use out of my cowl-neck tops due to the weather, and I got mighty bored of my variations on JJ and Lydia (especially layered together).
  • I wish I had a few more “relief” pieces (like the Danielle dress pictured) for spicing it up when the staples get old. I’m really lusting after a mid-length mermaid skirt like Big in Japan’s or LouTracey’s. The Kasia fits this ‘hole’ but a) I don’t really like it with any of my self-stitched tops, and b) I find the whole pencil-skirt thing a big constricting for everyday wear. I like to walk fast and take stairs two at a time, which is not good for pencil skirts.
  • DAILY photos! Tiring, boring. Probably the repetitive garments wouldn’t’ve bothered me quite as much if I hadn’t been photographing them. (I know, this is also part of “the good” because it pushed me to get more creative with my photos)
  • I never did find my blue tank top. It’s been MIA all month!

The Odd:

I don’t think my husband or children even noticed that I eschewed all RTW (except jackets, sweaters, and sleepwear… and undies) for the month. I guess this is partly because I was wearing a fair amount before (one piece a day through August and much of July), but still. Way to go, family! Also, it felt really weird to grab a non-self-stitched pair of jeans this morning.

The wardrobe:

Here’s a link to my Self-Stitched Flickr set. I didn’t manage pics every day, but more than not. You can tell which days I was inspired and having fun and which days were just “bleh let’s get this over with”, can’t you?

So on the whole, I’m glad I did it. I really like the feeling of wearing my own items, even if I don’t like being restricted to just them. It would be fun at some point in the future to have a fully me-made wardrobe, although I don’t think I’m going to exclude the possibility of buying stuff as needed. I hope I didn’t bore you all to tears with the outfit posts—I tried to have a bit of something else in there, even on days when little or no sewing was done.

The Way Forward:

I still need to finish my winter coat, and of course proceed with the Lady Grey. I’m still toying with the idea of turning the muslin (assuming I can get the front working) into a real, light-weight coat. I won’t be able to do the “final” version until I can get fabric, which hopefully will be sometime in October (I have a 50%-off coupon for up to 5m of fabric at Fabricland that expires at the end of October, but funds remain tight in the Tanit-Isis household). I have the lining! Tyo will also need a winter coat at some point this fall, so I need to decide whether to buy or try to make her one. I’m thinking I should hold off on making her one until I’ve tested whether mine will end up being warm enough, which of course means after the winter, which means buying one in the meantime. I’d also like more cardi-wrap-type garments, but again that requires buying substantial amounts of not-cheap fabric.

And, in the purely fun and frilly side of sewing (that oh-so-seductive side I’m trying to avoid), I now have all the materials I should need for a tiered petticoat, and also I’m considering sacrificing some of this red fabric to a retro circle skirt to go over said petticoat. How fun? Plus I still need some madeleine bloomers to go under the pouffy skirt (see above), and maybe some more nighties. I may resort to some of these just because I can use fabric I already have, instead of having to buy more.

So that’s where I am as of this morning, happy to have risen to the challenge but also glad it’s over. My wardrobe is going to feel so massive and well-rounded now… 😉

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September 27, 2010 · 2:38 pm

Premature blogging

Grey suiting (left); purpe plaid knit (right)

If I waited until bedtime, I might actually have something to show for myself. As is… not really. But since I’m home, kids not in school, and guys fixing the driveway making it a bit hard to concentrate, I’m going to pretend I’m justified in wasting some time blogging now :).

Syo and I popped into Fabricland this morning (in her lovely new dress). I wanted to pick up more twill tape and clear elastic. I walked out with four metres of this suiting to make my Lady Grey muslin, a metre of that purple knit with diagonal tartan print, and another metre of a garish poly-lycra knit for Syo to replace the play-value of the fabric that got made into a dress yesterday. For $2/m, I was willing to indulge her. For that matter, the purple was $2.50, and the suiting was only $6/m (clearance from $18). It kinda chokes me spending money on fabric for a muslin, but I wanted something heavier than old bedsheets from Value Village (and old curtains from Value Village would have cost about as much as the suiting :P). Anyway, it’s actually kind of nice, even with that odd super-imposed criss-cross pattern… maybe I’ll feel driven to try and make a wearable muslin after all. We’ll see.

Here’s a question—the purple knit is obviously destined for some kind of top. What kind do you think? Another straight-up Lydia? A cowl neck? I’d love to do another Manequim cowl with sleeves but I can’t quite wrap my mind around adding sleeves to that weird armhole. I’m really not feeling making anything with short sleeves right now ;). The reverse of the fabric is all the lighter-purple colour, which would make a nice contrast binding, I think.

I also bought buttons for the coat.

Bought buttons.

I’m feeling guilty about this because I know just last week I took Tasia up on her super-sweet offer of mailing me some buttons, and they are on their way already. I’m sorry, Tasia! I promise I’ll find a good use for yours, too! But I really liked these ones, and the notions are all 50% off right now, anyway…

Actually, there were a LOT of really nice buttons I’d never noticed before—mostly metal ones, however, and I was looking for something black. I like these because they’re sturdy, black, classic, but have an interesting pattern to them if you look close. All of which may or may not show up in the photographs 😛

In Self-Stitched September news, the weather is divine but the morning was still chilly. Also, the leaves started falling yesterday.

Self-Stitched September 27

Leaf fan. Not as impressive as the idea was in my head.

Top: Quick Cowl Top from Burdastyle.com, and the ubiquitous Cardi-wrap (I need one of these in black or ivory—something a little more neutral than red. Not that I don’t dig the red, but there’s certain wardrobe items it doesn’t go with.)

Bottom: the Jaie 2908 capris again. You bet I’m gonna get as much wear as I can out of these this week.

Self-Stitched September 27

Communing with autumn

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September 21, 2010 · 8:47 pm

Bleeeuuuuuaauauagh…

Yeah, that about sums it up. Sorry for the no-post yesterday… I have about enough stamina to run downstairs and heat up some tea before collapsing back into bed right now. Probably I’d be doing better if I could actually sleep, but the general malaise and sinus-balloons aren’t helping there, either. So, anyway, enough whining.

Yesterday, I did manage to take in the white Lydia and hem the sleeves, but not the bottom as I like to iron in some wash-away stabilizer for that, and I’m not up for that much running-up-and-down of stairs. I also spent some time working on The Coat—finishing the hem and making chain tacks between lining hem and shell hem out of some silver embroidery floss I happened to have handy. I have a small

Chain-tack to keep lining and coat hems from shifting too much.

stash of embroidery floss, mostly dating from high-school, when I enjoyed cross stitch, before I realized that if you do cross-stitch, what you end up with at the end of the day is a piece of cross-stitch.

Man, I’m a pack-rat.

Anyway, the exertion of sitting upright for a whole three hours or so was enough to send me back to bed for the evening too wiped to even write, much less photograph my accomplishments.

Today, by contrast, I lay in bed. I did bestir myself enough to open up my Lady Grey pattern, unfold the tissue, separate the pieces, and mark out the size 2 in a felt marker so I can trace them off more easily later. I napped, or tried to. In a fit of boredom, I took another stab at designing labels, this time using Inkscape (since I have it on my laptop, whereas my elderly copy of

Labels made in Inkscape. Also a cooler font.

Illustrator only runs on the old XP desktop). Inkscape is another vector graphics program, rather like Illustrator’s awkward, ungainly cousin. It has one huge advantage over Illustrator—it’s free—and one smaller one, which is that although its user-interface is fairly clunky, I actually find it more intuitive than Illustrator’s, which has to be the least-intuitive graphics program I’ve ever messed with*.

Anyway, you can see the outcome. The illustration actually printed out quite nicely… I was a little worried about

Label, v. 2.0

that. And here is the label in place in my coat:

So that’s where I’m at.

Oh, Self-stitched September.

Self-Stitched September, day 20

Yesterday

Lydia v. 4

Today.

All right. Off to bed.

*I’ve never actually had any formal training in graphic arts. All of my photoshop prowess, which is passable, and my Illustrator and Inkscape and GIMP fu, which are rather less, come from messing around. A lot of messing around. If you have actual training in any of these programs, my hat is off to you and you can undoubtedly make them dance circles around what little I can do.

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September 18, 2010 · 8:55 pm

Halt!

I hung the coat from my upstairs railings down into the kitchen below to facilitate hemming it.

Erm, y’know that coat?

Yeah, the one I’ve been cracking away at all week?

That I was hoping to finish today or tomorrow?

So here’s the thing.

I don’t have any buttons for it.

Yeah, I know. Wee bit of an oversight, there.

Um. I’m forgetful that way?

I do have the button insta-stash now, but while it does have a few large buttons, it has nothing like the eight to ten matching ones I need for this coat.

Now, in addition to having no buttons, I have no money. Zero cash. As in, bank overdrawn, credit card maxed, parents already hit up for money this month. Ouch. September always bites this way, and every year I swear I’m going to plan for it, and every year it whams us like a frying pan. I had tuition to pay, kids have school fees (most of which I put off but I kinda have to pay for Syo’s school bus fees up front because… well, it’s a long, ranting story better saved for the non-existant “Kids school blog.” And I had to register and book a plane ticket to the big yearly conference I’m presenting at next month. Speaking of which, anyone know any good fabric stores in Pittsburgh?

Anyway, next installment of money comes soon, we are not about to starve or lose the house or anything, but it does mean I can’t justify buying buttons until at least next week. No coat for me. 😦

However, that didn’t stop me from spending most of my Saturday (between ferrying hubby to work and Syo to buy a birthday present

A whole lotta coat!

and then later go to the birthday party) working at the coat. It’s almost entirely hemmed now. The front facings still hate me (or each other). I swear by the time I’m done the front panels are pretty much going to be pad-stitched to each other. It’s like some part of my brain is convinced that if I throw enough hand-stitching at it, it’ll all turn out alright. I think I need to coin a new word for this… basse couture? Pauvre couture? Whatever it is, it’s like the opposite of haute couture, but still with all the hand-work.

Also, I spread it out on the floor just to see, and the skirt is almost a full three-quarter circle. That’s a whole lotta coat!

I really hope this coat ends up gorgeous at some point. Because on the hanger it just sorta looks bleh. And I was not going for bleh. Not at all. 😦

I think tomorrow I need a quick, satisfying project. Another Lydia or something.

In Self-Stitched September news, the outfit is a complete, item-for-item repeat of the ninth, so I decided to accessorize.

Self-Stitched September, day 18

The backdrop of my crummy garage really doesn't do us justice, I know.

I know, you can’t really see the clothes.

Self-Stitched September, day 18

In real life the skulls are actually a medium grey. They reflect the flash from the camera, however.

Sadly, I don’t actually ride this myself. I do an awesome job of looking cute on the back, however (or so my hubby assures me). I hope we get at least a few more days in before the season truly ends.

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September 17, 2010 · 9:35 pm

Remember what I said about the north wind?

Yes, that's snow on my neighbour's roof this morning.

It didn’t stick, but it still sucked.

Canadian winters are sorta like childbirth. They really suck when they’re happening, but then when they’re over you feel all macho and tough for getting through it (why no, I didn’t have an epidural. Either time.). Except that I only had to go through childbirth twice. Of course, this isn’t winter. Winter’s still a good couple of months off, though with La Nina developing it will probably be a nasty one, unlike last winter, which barely counted. It was nice, but not nice enough to make up for the cruddy summer.

I never have understood why people like fall. It’s my birthday season and I still don’t understand it.

Anyway, that’s probably my year’s quotient of weather-whining for a sewing blog, so I’ll move on.

Other than needing to vent over the snow, I might as well have skipped posting today. The outfit’s a repeat, and the only “sewing” consisted of pulling out most of the seam holding lining to coat to re-position it. There was a lot of swearing involved. It may end up not being possible to wear this coat unbuttoned, because I’m not convinced I can keep the front sides from swinging out. Though I guess if I have to tack down all the inside seams, I will. Grrr. Well, I’m definitely learning a lot. I’m sure if I went to make it over again, I would screw up way less.

Anyway, the daily outfit is a repeat, so bring on the goofy poses:

Self-Stitched September, Day 17

Walk like an Egyptian!

Self-Stitched September, Day 17

OMFG it's freakin' cold out here!!!!1!

Self-Stitched September, Day 17

This is what happens when you turn around to see if the camera's gone off yet.

Have a great weekend!

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September 16, 2010 · 8:50 pm

So close…

Zig-zag butted edges and twill-tape covering

And yet so far away.

The interlining is assembled. This was interesting and kind of fun, but not very tricky. I cut it out sans seam allowance, butted the edges, and stitched them together with a three-step zig-zag. Then, just to make the join stronger, I covered it with twill tape stitched down on each side.

Then I ran out of twill tape.

Unwilling to be delayed or sacrifice the two hours it would take to get to Fabricland on transit to get more twill tape, I

My space suit!

sacrificed some nice ribbon instead. Sorry. If I’d had crummy ribbon I would’ve used that. Well, at least it’s pretty.

I actually have gotten quite a bit further… I have lining inserted, collar attached, and am currently fighting with the hem. It’s not going well. The front panel has an edge on the bias, which stretched out when I hung it up. Now, I’m pretty sure the instructions included a part on hanging before hemming… but anyway, it threw off the fit with the front facing, which is interfaced so didn’t stretch… I was suppose to interface the front itself but I messed it up… actually the instructions didn’t say which until AFTER, I guess assuming your front and facing pieces will be interchangeable. Sine I had to piece together my facings, that wasn’t really an option. So anyway, I’m having some issues there. I’ll take pictures when it’s looking a little more kick-ass than it is now, hopefully by the end of the weekend.

In Self-Stitched September news, here’s today’s outfit:

Self-Stitched September, day 16

I am a goddess of compassion.

As you can see, it’s only one piece (the pants… ok it’s actually the other Lydia shirt but really, the arms are identical) off from this much better pic from last week.

Self-Stitched September 6

But really, I'm just a goofball.

Taking pics outside is WAY more fun, I think.

Anyway, having sewed more than I ought to today (even if I don’t have much to show for it yet), I will take my leave… hopefully when we meet again I’ll have a coat to show off!

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September 15, 2010 · 9:04 pm

The north wind doth blow…

And we shall have snow. Apparently by tomorrow morning.

pause for a lengthy insertion of expletives.

Okies, moving on. Or, not really moving. The kids-in-school thing is definitely turning into a stranglehold. Tyo had homework, dictee (spelling in French… yes, my children are receiving their education in French), and a bunch of forms for me to fill out. Between that, running to the grocery store, and making supper, somehow the evening flew and I barely got anything resembling sewing done at all. Here is my progress:

What will be the interlining of my coat

I traced around the pattern pieces with marker because I was too lazy to pin them down. The plan is to cut them out (minus seam allowances) and butt the eges together and stitch with a 3-step zig-zag, possibly reinforced with twill tape. We’ll see how this goes.

But, in happier news, I opened my mail this morning and look what came!

Ceylon and Lady Grey!

Colette patterns! Are those not the cutest little pattern booklets you’ve ever seen? (ok I’m sure they’re old news to everyone else in blogland, deal) You open them up and there’s the instructions in a little booklet on the left, and a pocket with  the folded tissue on the right.

Inside: instructions (in booklet form) on the left, pattern on the right

I got to admit, for a $20 pattern I may prefer the Jalie way of printing it on real paper, but these are adorable anyway, and more compact.

Now Gertie’s officially starting the Lady Grey sewalong tomorrow (cutting muslins) and somehow I’m thinking I’m not going to make it. Especially since I don’t have my original winter coat done. Which I need, and soon, if it’s going to start freakin’ snowing on us.

Speaking of coats, I decided to photograph today’s ensemble with mine, since otherwise it’s an incredibly boring repeat (Lydia and Jalie jeans, OMFG). This is not a self-stitched piece, it’s thrifted, ages ago (but if I started counting thrifted and hand-me-down items for the challenge, well, that’s almost everything in my wardrobe except some of my jeans). I’m liking the cozy thrown over one shoulder under the coat… it works like a big red scarf, and keeps my belly warm since the coat itself doesn’t have any closure. It’s a lovely coat, though, as long as you’re wearing it for purely fashion-related purposes. Which I’m not.

Self-Stitched September, day 15

Speaking of which, it’s officially halfway through September. Crap. Well, I got SOME of what I needed to get done accomplished. Anyway, I have done it “all” Self-Stitched. Barring, y’know, socks and undies and sweaters and coats. But pretty much all self-stitched. Hurray! Thanks for the encouragement, you guys, because I would not have had the guts to step it up if you hadn’t.

And, y’know, it’s not so much that I’m bored of wearing the clothes, so much as I’m bored of recording the same ones over and over. Yet on some level I’ve bought in to a must-photograph-to-document-my-participation kind of mentality. Kinda weird. Anyway, what do you think? Continue with the daily outfit or let it slide? At least it gives me something to blog about on the days like today when I got almost nothing done. On the other hand, it’s pretty boring. Which is worse, no post or boring post? 😉

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September 12, 2010 · 6:36 pm

Little to report, Cap’n

I got da stuff.

Despite my best intentions, the day was unproductive, sewing-wise. I spent a lot of time running errands. I watched Ninja Assassin with the hubby. I gave in and bought Tyo a bunch of jeans (and a cool pair of high-tops) from Value Village for school, since she’s outgrown everything from last year and the hand-me-downs from her 13-year-old cousin are still too big.

What the labels were SUPPOSED to look like

I did finally take the opportunity while out and about to spend a little more of the money I shouldn’t be spending on a package of T-shirt transfer sheets. An hour or so of wrangling with Adobe Illustrator, and I had produced this (Click to see it full sized):

At this point the file decided to corrupt and refuse to print or save. Some cut-and-paste and swearing later, I had a new version, but for some reason most every time I tried to print the lettering would print out white. Even after saving it as a .pdf, which usually clears up most printing problems. Anyway, out of my entire first page of transfer paper I managed to get about a dozen usable labels. Compared to all this, ironing them on to the twill-tape was nothing.

So, without further adieu, here is my first branded piece of clothing: (yup, it’s the cardi-wrap, it was too much work to take off my pants to put the label on them 😉

“Strange Aeon” is a name I’ve wanted for my “brand” (of anything) ever since I first read the phrase. I’m sure someone else has used it already, but not, as far as I can tell, for clothes, so myeh. And since anyone who gets clothes from me is more likely to know my real name than my screen name, I put my real name on them.

I’m pretty sure I’ll change it up a bit next time—make the text a tiny bit larger, replace the cloudy background (that for some reason printed out green) with some kind of a border… anyway. They’re still fun. 🙂

Now to see how they hold up to the laundry…

What they actually look like.

In Self Stitched September news, here’s today’s outfit.

Self-Stitched September, Day 12

Day 12 outfit

You may be seeing more of this cardi-wrap than you want to. Since this is only one piece different than yesterday’s outfit, I figured I’d give you a different part of my backyard to see. Hmm, I think the other fence is definitely more photogenic, though.

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