Just what I need; more navy pants! I completed the muslin for these back in October. Seriously. And for some reason I called that post 'to prove I'm not procrastinating'. Bahahah. Riiiiight. 

Here's the pattern from Burda Style Magazine. A pretty good fit. I ended up not taking the waist in to give it a little bit of a paper bag-y look, because unlined skintight wool gabardine is so not an excellent idea. I would definitely go down a size if I were using a cotton twill, but I thought the gab draped nicely and slouch-ily in this size.

I tried out lots of pairs of shoes with these, and concluded that they can only be worn with heels. Meh.

I tucked a little orange lining fabric into the waistband and top pocket pieces. This photo looks crazy because I was shining a 100 watt light from like two feet away. The overcast basically never goes away in the PNW. I must compensate by washing everything out with bright lights!

The pearly (fake-out) back pocket buttons are from my a collection given to me by my grandma. Apparently, she bought them for 25 cents at a place named Henderson's and labeled them "for C's green sweater". C is my mom, and she doesn't have any recollection of a green sweater... I wonder if my grandma had the same unfinished project syndrome as I do?

Oh, hey Nigel. Please get your white fur away from my pants.
Scoot!

/lounge day

first matter of lounging:

I made these granny square slippers a while ago from a Purl Bee tutorial, and get a ton of use out of them. As evidenced in the picture below, I was lounging around in them earlier today (as I was working on a new little blog header- more to come!).

They're a cheery and simple middle-of-the-winter project you can even hook out of leftovers if you'd like!

There is a really good warmth/ventilation ratio going on with these, which is probably why I like them so much. I'll admit they look a little old and granola in real life (everything looks exponentially more attractive in Purl Bee photos), but they've got a certain charm, right?

the lower third of that photo brings me to the second matter of lounging:

Sweatpants. I understand that most of you will think I'm a schlep for doing so, but tonight I wore sweatpants out to dinner.
They're not just any sweatpants however, they're the best sweatpants ever.

-I just realized how gross the word 'sweatpants' probably sounds to British readers. Ew. Sorry, but I'll need to keep using it because 'lounge trousers' is the only possible solution I can come up with and that sounds weird too.-

I would be hesitant to claim any expert knowledge on the subject of sweatpants, since these are my second and third pairs I've ever owned. But seriously. This poly/cotton/rayon fleece is like a miracle soft pant fabric, so drapey but not clingy.

These were the first offenders; j.crew's ultra-knit pant. It seemed simple enough, loungey pants were in order and these looked nice.

I'm sorry I underestimated you ultra-knit. I wear you so often that I needed a pair for the times you were in the wash, and for the times I had to leave the house. You made me want to be a hermit forever, ultra-knits.

These are what resulted. The out-to-dinner pants, aka the j.crew ultra-knit un-sweatpants.
Again, so soft they make your two months unshaven legs feel as soft as a baby's forearm. (Don't worry about me, I have very fine hair.)

If anyone finds it unbelievable that one could be so dramatic about sweatpants without primetime sponsorship, you have obviously never experienced the ultra-knit. Or you've never heard me talk about pastries and/or loungewear.
: )




I'll leave with a fabulous song regarding the apparent antithesis of my current fashion obsession.

/at laaaaast, my tablet!

Hooray! I've been wanting a tablet for AGES, and I finally found and won (errr, bought) one on eBay. It's a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet, size medium. See that pen? IT'S MAGICAL. It draws, it paints,

 Good for a lady like me who's got a  limited knowledge of graphic design, but still likes to personalize things.

I think this style went out of production, but then again I got a deal.

 The main reason for wanting this was to do illustrations. My first couple of freehand tries were okay, but for now I'm trying to train myself by doing tracings. Primitive, to say the least- but super fun! Don't mind me while I'm completely engrossed with this for the next, um, few weeks.

original: the row via knightcat

Also,

This Is The Lamest: Dave Matthews Is The New Face Of John Varvatos 

via Refinery 29, via WWD

 Blech.

/do-over & new reads

Chocolate glazed mini baked doughnuts. So good.

The first time I made these, they were just as delicious even though the glaze failed miserably (I dipped them in melted butter and cinnamon-sugar, so the problem instantly eliminated itself), and I didn't have plain yogurt. I still don't remember what I substituted for the yogurt the first time, but still didn't have it today so I ended up putting some cottage cheese in the blender. In retrospect, that's kind of gross... but it worked out!
 
This time around the glaze was lovely and shiny, just like a real doughnut shop!

Moving on to a little Christmas gift 'round-up', if you will.

I've kept an amazon.com wishlist for quite a few years now, and always remind the family of that when Christmas or my birthday come around. :) It's basically just music and books, with a few fancy items for fun.

This year (as with most years) was the year of the utilitarian book. Here are my favorites:

Sky High  Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes - Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne

Sky High comes highly recommended from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, so it was obviously going to be good. (It is! It is!) I haven't made anything from this book yet, as no event in the last couple weeks has really warranted a 3 layer cake. I have promised my sister though, to make one birthday cake of her choice later this month.

Cool Couture   Construction Secrets for Runway Style - Kenneth D. King

Looking at the cover of this one, I first assumed that it was published in 1995. It was published in 2008.
That aside, I always love reading Kenneth King's technique tutorials in Threads magazine, so this seemed like a good bet. There are some very practical techniques that won't necessarily be covered in a basic 'complete' sewing manual, like piped curves, piped curved pockets and double and triple piping (there's a lot of piping going on here). Although I can tell there are some techniques I'll never ever use (double and triple tassles, Chinese knots), it's quite fun to read through and try to translate how I'd use each concept in something I would design.

The Handmade Marketplace - Kari Chapin

This one's a little clue to something I've got brewing.
We'll see about that.
In the meantime, I've been having tons of fun and ah-ha! moments while scouring The Handmade Marketplace. It's definitely one to be scoured. It's got great up to date internet & blogging age tips, not to mention pretty thorough information on how not to get in trouble with the IRS while running a crafty business. That would be a downer.


On today's agenda; hem 9 pairs of trousers and jeans... I'm going to need lots and lots tea!

/if EVERYBODY jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

No. I might not jump that bridge, but I would make these adorable mini-bloomers from Colette patterns that nearly every person with a sewing blog has made.

You wouldn't even have to dare me.

Then I'd take horribly lit photos of them and post them to the internet.

Sweetwater for Moda #5425

These babies are just so painfully adorable, how could I resist? (They make excellent Christmas gifts!)

Chloe's Closet for Moda #15479

/2011

I'm back, hoping you've had a great Christmas & New Year! These last couple weeks have been insanely busy. Come to think of it, between visiting friends, housesitting and vacation, in the last 2 1/2 weeks I've slept in my own bed twice. I have a feeling this is what lead to my multi-disaster Christmas...

casualty #1: skirt for sister.

This one was sad, but may still be fixable for her birthday so I can't elaborate too much. Just picture this skirt  looking super cute in really great fabric, with a giant hole down the front. Cool.

casualty #2: Buche de Noel.

I was soooo excited about this yule log. It had NUTELLA in the filling! And toasted almonds!
And was forgotten in the fridge while packing up all the food to bring to Christmas at my Aunt's.
Eventually it found its way to my sister and brother-in-law's house and was eaten with good friends. It was allegedly "delicious" "tasty" "soooooo good!". Psh.


I promise I am not all about complaining. Lots of good things happened too! Among them...

Good thing #1: This was present from my friend Megan (whatup, Meg!). One of my favorite teas ever (Coconut Black) and a mug from my favorite bakery in Seattle. She knows me too well. I've been using it every day possible.

Good thing #2: I started to teach myself to knit last night! I have been wanting to for way too long without doing anything about it. First, this garter stitch. I've moved on to the stockinette stitch, rib, checkerboard and watched a video on doing cables, but will wait a few days before putting that into action. Anyone know of a good first project?



In other news:

The day after I finished two pairs of mittens for my mom and sister, BurdaStyle posted a contest called Handmade Holiday sponsored by ModCloth. They asked members to post accessories they'd made as presents and link to something you could wear with them from ModCloth. I thought I might as well post a pair of the mittens, right? Well, the ModCloth editors have picked their favorite 25 (out of 206! yeah, I went and looked.) accessories and I made it in somehow!

Here's the link to my mittens, and the other fantastic finalists. There are actually a few people out there who have voted for my project!