A Decadent Decade

3 August, 2010 | Amy | 6 Comments

My husband and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary on Thursday. He surprised me with a stay in the honeymoon suite of a French Country-style bed and breakfast. It was lovely and restful.

anniversary 003

I’m so glad I had something special to wear to our romantic get-away. I finished my apple dress in the nick of time. I could nit-pick some fit issues, but instead, I think I’ll just focus on the positive: It’s a flattering style and my husband liked the amount of cleavage it exposed.

anniversary 005

He deserved a little eye candy, since he also surprised me with a gorgeous new ring.

10th Anniversary Present

Yes, of course I cried.

Skirting the Issue

23 July, 2010 | Amy | 7 Comments

The trousers may have been a flop, but I LOVE my new skirt.

Full Skirt

This skirt is Butterick 5885. It has fantastically roomy side seam pockets, a back zipper and stitched pleats. The pattern offered two different lengths. I chose the longer of the two and am glad I did, since I’m not yet skilled at managing this amount of fabric during the day. Sometimes it gets a little rucked up, like when I’m trying to climb out of the car, and I’d be in serious danger of displaying my knickers to bystanders with a shorter version of this.

Full Skirt

It’s such an easy pattern! I can definitely see making another one of these, perhaps using a nice crepe fabric for fall. I also need to make a more flattering top to wear with this. The untucked blouse isn’t quite right. I tried tucking it in, but it looks odd on my short-waisted torso. A nicely fitted white knit top might just do the trick.

P.S. I changed the look of my blog today and added a Google Friend Connect thing-a-ma-jig over there in the sidebar.

Trousers Travesty

22 July, 2010 | Amy | 6 Comments

I finished sewing a pair of trousers and thought they were pretty nice. Then I took photos and wanted to toss them into the barbecue, pour lighter fluid on them and then strike a match.

Really, they’re not too bad from the front, perhaps a little saggy at crotch level, but I was willing to live with that.

Jalie 2909 Trousers - Front

Then I had a look at the back. Eek gad.

Jalie 2909 Trousers - Back

That undies show-through is nothing short of embarrassing.

I also thought I had the waistband adjusted properly, but look at the enormous gaposis that resulted:

Jalie 2909 Trousers - Waistband

I could carry a small child in that gap. Who needs a sling or Baby Bjorn when you could just stuff baby in your pants, kind of like a kangaroo in reverse?

The pattern isn’t bad–this is Jalie 2909 stretch trousers. They’re based on the same block as the jeans I love so much. I don’t imagine fixing the problems I encountered would be any more difficult that adjusting any pants pattern; however, I don’t think this is what I want in a pair of trousers. I don’t want trousers that fit like jeans. I want trousers that fit like trousers should–elegantly fitted through the waist and hip and looser down the leg.

This is not the pants pattern I was looking for.