Tuesday, July 6, 2010

SO ... A Needle Pulling Thread

Who remembers "The Sound of Music"?
I do. Well, it's kinda hard to forget when your partner sticks it in the VCR player every chance he gets, and when a certain Facebook friend (who no doubt has seen the movie twice as many times as I have ;-)) keeps posting random quotes and song lines on my wall!
Anyway, it appears that the frugal spirits of Fraulein Maria her curtain-come-lederhosen-clad charges have infiltrated my psyche because I just made a pair of pants out of a tablecloth.

LOL! Ok wait ... let me explain.
Lately I've been tinkering about a bit with the sewing machine. I've never been very good at sewing (too impatient I think) but I found some pretty easy sewing projects online and thought I'd give them a go. After a few stuff ups, I've managed to produce a heap of pants and a t-shirt for Keanu and a tiered skirt for Indi, all made from recycled clothing; old shirts, dresses, pants and the likes.

Somehow, in a haze of google searches, I came upon this pattern. How cool are they! (and heaps of good sewing tips too.) Suddenly I remembered a gorgeous piece of batik print fabric that my sister bought back from Bali last year. It would be perfect for this pattern! But I don't want to stuff it up; the piece isn't very big. One wrong run through the overlocker and all would be lost.

Hmmm ... need to make a test pair. But what to use?
I could go to Spotlight and grab a few metres of cheap cotton OR I could be my usual impatient tightarse creative frugal-minded self and raid the linen closet. I chose plan B ;-) I couldn't use an old sheet, because that would be cutting into my crocheting stash (remember the mermaid and the bag?) but digging deep I found this old tablecloth that I picked up in a second hand store years ago. We haven't bothered with tablecloths since the kids started eating at the table so I figured it wouldn't be missed.

Turns out that the claim is true ... these really are SIMPLE and COMFY pants. I made them without one mistake! You can see that I've changed them a bit around the waist; I've sort of accentuated the front tie and hidden the back one (which is just bias tape because it was all I had lying around).

And I'm wearing them backwards. They sit better on me that way.

All in all, I'm REALLY happy with them. Not particularly good for winter; I probably wouldn't wear them high on a hill with a lonely goat herd and they'd be no good to Climb Evr'y Mountain ...
but I Have Confidence that they will become one of My Favourite Things ...


So Long, Farewell!



8 comments:

Cords said...

WOW WOW WOW! Awesome! Might have to make myself a pair...... GO YOU!

Ariella said...

Love these. I want some!

'Joyce' said...

oh so love your new pants. What a great pattern. I have a few wrap skirts and want to make some more, but these would be perfect for the caravan.

Charity Indietutes said...

yes! Love the modification, love the recycled-ness of it all. My kids tend to use me like their personal dining space, so I maybe I should have a look through my linen closet too ;)

karisma said...

Very cool! You are too clever!

Kat said...

I have been dying to make pants like this for a while. I see women wearing them a lot on the festival circut. Thanks for the link to the pattern, I am going to check it out right now. But I think my favorite part is all the sound of music quotes I am such a HUGE fan. btw how did you cross out the text in your post? That is something I really need to know how to do....

Blessings,
Kat
forloveofmyoceans.blogspot.com

Kel said...

Kat: there is a button at the top of the typing box, near all the italics and bold buttons ... I think it says strikeout text?
Sorry for the lateness of reply; I haven't had much spare time lately!

LJ said...

They are fab!! Just love them.

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