Pants and Other Projects

***A note: I am now sharing this post over at amylouwho's "Sew and Tell Fridays" - I'm choosy about the blogs I follow because I really like to keep up with each one, and there are only so many hours in a week that I can justify sitting in front of the computer. But I am pleased to recently discover this blog and this weekly link party as a forum for continual sewing inspiration and accountability. Thanks for having me! ***

I have recently become obsessed with making pants, ever since stumbling upon this tutorial a few weeks back. For my first attempt I used one of Amy's old, stained t-shirts and made a pair of pants for her baby dolls. They were a success, and the process helped me really understand how pants are constructed. I've been wanting to make Amy some pants for awhile, because, while she has grown much taller since last year, she's not much wider, and many purchased pants in the next size are a little baggy. I've also been weeding through my own clothes, and recently discarded two long-ish thermal-knit tops that had done their time. I used a pair of Amy's too-short pants to draft front and back pattern pieces on muslin, turning the pants inside out and trying to trace each shape as accurately as possible, and adding more length. I cut them out (lining up the cuffs with the hem of the shirt) and sewed 'em up. This is a less-than-one-hour project, and I can even pull it off while Amy is twirling around the sewing room "helping" me. I finished the purple pair earlier today, and Amy wore them happily. The red ones I just finished tonight, and I made a couple of fit adjustments that I sort of think might not have worked out.... but we'll see in the morning when she tries them on. Here are a couple of action shots:

Since we're on the subject of sewing, here are some other quick hits from my sewing room right now... can we say, "too many irons in the fire"?

Above: brown polka dot fleece to make a vest for Amy. Hopefully before spring. Penguin flannel purchased to back a "pink blanket" Amy wanted to make for her brand-new cousin. Blanket completed and sent off. Bought extra penguins to make self pajama pants. Did not realize how much yardage it takes to make pants for a mommy-sized person. Now must decide what to do with 1.5 yards of leftover penguins.

Vest pattern all cut out and ready to go. Suspect it is going to be WAY too big. Kinda dreading that project because I want instant gratification and I have a feeling it is going to take a lot more time and fiddling than I have patience for. Fabric stacked below shelf: bits and pieces to make more baby doll clothes. (Baby doll clothes make for lots of instant gratification, and a happy daughter.)

Incidentally, can I just say how much I am loving my sewing space? It's been evolving nicely over the last ten months or so, and in recent weeks I've been working on something up here almost every day. That is nice. I love the worked-in feeling this "closet" has now; I love the heaps of pattern pieces, the multiple projects, the list on the wall, the functionality of having all my tools out and close at hand. And I love the butterfly wings. Oh, and of course my sewing machine. L.O.V.E. Best investment of 2010.

Moving on. To wrap up the tour we have here a broken clay pot thrown by moi in high school pottery class. Thanksgiving Day casualty, knocked off the counter. Bummer, but I think it can be glued, hence why it is taking up space on my sewing table.

Also above, yet another tote bag in progress, just for fun, from fabric already in my hoard, um, I mean, stash.

And lastly, all my thread finally out of a box and within arm's reach of the sewing machine, enabling me to switch projects at a moment's notice. Good thing, because between all of this and the unmentioned Christmas sewing, I've got my work cut out for me. And that's just the way I like it.