The Khadi Body Pants

Okay, guys, we need to talk about culottes. Culottes. I never thought this day would come. What is this, 18th Century France, am I right? I mean, politically and personally I have always thought of myself as a sans culottes, you know what I mean? That’s a little French Revolution humor for you, for the cheap seats. I’m just kidding, there are no cheap seats at Versailles! Hey-o! Tip your guillotine operator, try the cake.

ANYway. Culottes. This is a thing. This is a thing in the world we live in and I have resisted it, as I do with so many things, until the point that I flip and wholeheartedly embrace it and THAT, my friends, is what is happening right now.

I want to talk to you about Megan Nielsen patterns. I really like Megan Nielsen patterns in that I really like the design. Seriously, lovely design, time and again. But the fit? The fit, my friends, is a situation. When the Flint Pants pattern came out, I was deeply deeply excited. I have been looking for a wide-legged loose fitting pleated pant that I could make in a lightweight fabric that would be good for the heat of Mumbai. I have tried a few options, and generally found myself disappointed. So when the Flint pattern came out, I was like, this is it. Pockets. Pleats. Wide legs. Cute closure options. Loose fit. IT’S THE GRAIL.

But then I tried them. I wanted a loose fit, because, um, isn’t that the point? So although my literal hip is an L, and my waist is a M (ummmmmm, question, why is a woven pattern S-XL?), I decided I would cut an XL to be safe, because the finished garment measurement had no ease, or so it appeared to me. Well, I cut and stitched up a pair of shorts in a turquoise fabric, and, um, I mean, technically they fit I guess, but it was a literal disaster. Puzzled, I measured the hip, and found that the finished shorts were actually the M hip measurement! What the WHAT? I am not a large person. I am never an L, let alone an XL, and now these shorts wont fit? I blame my butt. These CANNOT have been drafted for any junk in the trunk, am I right? Yes, there is an ego issue here, but beyond that, it was bewildering. I fumed. I sighed. I was OVER this, over pants, over everything! But no, NO. I bought the physical paper pattern, not even a PDF. I committed to these pants. I was going to make this WORK if it killed me. I decided to go all out, and I added two inches to each side of each leg pattern piece for a pair of shorts I was making. This…might have been overcorrecting, because I ended up with super loose shorts and I took the waistband at least 6 inches, so it’s back down to the pattern M measurement. But while big, these shorts, which I may photograph later, were much closer to what I had been looking for. Loose flowy comfortable shorts/pants/MAYBE CULOTTES WHAAAAAT?

Yes. Culottes. In the third iteration of my attempts to make the Flint pattern, I think I’ve hit my sweet spot. I added 1.5 inches to each side of each leg piece, so essentially adding a nice 12 inches to the leg pieces, giving me ample room through the hips and posterior, while grading to a M at the waist. I might not love the originally drafting here, but I’m glad I stuck with this pattern and made it work for me. Finally I have the comfortable loose fit of my dreams. Hard work, it pays off, whether you are overthrowing the French Monarchy or just making a pair of pants happen, am I right?

So here you go, without further ado, my Flint Culottes:

When my friend Liz was here, she bought this purple and white khadi that I adored but graciously let her buy because I am an amazing person/hero. However, when I saw this, virtually the SAME FABRIC, in Darjeeling in a Khadi Store, I luckily had no one else around me interested, and I could scoop it all up furtively and get out of there before anyone tried to take it. I had just enough to make these culottes, which, when I cut them, 100% reached my ankles and could have just been straight up pants. That might be another drafting issue, actually… Ah, well, that’s what hemming is for.

The shirt is actually something I bought. WHAT? I KNOW. But it’s a linen t-shirt from J Crew and I have to say, I adore it. Linen. I love you. And as a knit? I want to go to there. I might buy more, guys. I want five of these. I live in a hot place. Linen is amazing.

Here I am, posing by the synagogue in Cochin, a city in Kerala, which I recently visited with my friend Sarah who was in turn visiting ME from the States. I got Jews in different area codes, am I right?

This very sweaty back view is my gift to you from Kerala.

I love love love the waist tie detail. There is a button on the inside, which cleverly keeps the whole pant-system in place. How amazing is this khadi? The texture is so great, and I think it really works with this pattern, much as I’ve adapted it. It makes for loose pleats, but they still have weight and definition.

These pants were, for all their struggle in the making, for all my emotional upheaval around making, and WEARING, culottes, because, you know, the horror, the humanity, but these were seriously magnificent for walking around Cochin. So. Damn. Comfortable, and the pockets? YES. And the loose fit I engineered, knowing it was all I wanted, kept me cool in the heat of Kerala. The khadi did it’s job, of course, and all in all, I have to say, for all the pain these caused me on the way, they were wonderful in their actuality.

Emotionally, mentally, yes, I’m still very much sans culottes. But, when it comes to real culottes? I might be more pro than I thought.

And now, some images from Kerala:

The Winter Uniform Outfit

Hey, there, people! So sorry for the long delay in posting, though I know that with all the internet content out there very few people even noticed because you know, reality television exists. I have to say, the holidays make hell with my posting. I’ve made a lot of things, but my work schedule is crazy and I can never get them documented, and then I’m spending all this time making gifts for other people and KNITTING which takes so much damn time, it really makes you appreciate sewing, right? Knitting really encourages me to see more movies because that’s when I end up knitting the most, otherwise I will never get it done. That being said, there are a lot of bad movies out there, and I would know, I’ve dropped stitches through all of them.

So I feel I should give you a quick recap on my January. Let’s see, a lot of sewing, working, more working, sewing, surviving the New York winter, getting into Jane the Virgin (SERIOUSLY WATCH JANE THE VIRGIN IT’S AMAZING) and then being sad that I watched Jane the Virgin so quickly and now I have to wait for more episodes. Oh, and wedding planning and life and writing and whatever. All such non-important nonsense because it has nothing to do with Jane the Virgin.

I am seriously jealous of the insanely good costuming throughout that show, for women AND for men. It’s set in Florida so everyone looks warm and happy all the time. Now, I’m not actually that anti-winter. I don’t mind the cold much, I grew up with this weather over in Philadelphia and do so enjoy wool. But watching this bright and sunny show after trudging through the sludge of the city does make me just the slightest bit jealous. The thing about New York in the winter is that it just destroys your sense of dressing, for most of us, at least. Your boots get eaten by salt, your body grows due to puffy coats, layers and, to be fair, eating your feelings, which makes subway rides even more crowded, and at some point you just figure, god, why am I bothering to look nice? Let me just lean into this, invest in the biggest sweater I can find, and call this a look. It’s deeply tempting to do this, and I admit, I have. Additionally, on the days I’m working from home, writing on the couch, it’s even MORE tempting to just live in pajamas, especially of the flannel variety. But I’m trying to feel a little more pulled together even when I’m writing, because it’s important to take writing seriously and treat it like the job that it is, so I have decided that even my lounge-wear needs to be nice, and, if possible, handmade.

Enter the Papercut Patterns Anima pant and the Megan Nielson Briar Top, stages right and left, respectively. Separately, they are wonderful patterns. Together? They are my winter writing uniform:

I made both of these pieces over a month ago at least, and hadn’t gotten around to documenting them before yesterday because it’s hard to pry them off of my body unless it’s to put them in the washing machine.

They are both super-easy to put together. The anima pants have pockets which is just fantastic and the construction is actually fairly fun for those, I liked that a lot. Otherwise these pique knit pants came together like a dream.

Next time I would use wider elastic for the waistband, because the thinner elastic I used makes it a little bunchy, but hey, these are basically high-class sweatpants, does anyone actively care? My laptop sure doesn’t and that’s the real audience for these….

There were no other fitting issues. I cut a medium for the top and the bottoms, and they both fit like a dream, but to be fair, these are comfortable knits, the fit is, shall we say, an easy thing. But the last thing you want when wrestling with words on a page is a woven, I can assure you…

The shirt is super easy, I love it. The hi-lo thing, I wasn’t initially a fan but I kind of like it now, and when I wear this with real pants I throw a tank top on underneath, and there you go. Layers. Like an onion of an outfit.

The fabric for the pants came from FabricMart.com and was insanely cheap, I think it was like 3.50 a yard. I used some to make this skirt. The shirt came from a length of fabric from Paron’s. The cat hair is all Cadfael.

Plus, it’s always nice to have some extra butt-coverage. Am I right? I mean, when you have this much to cover….

There’s that high-lo for you. I look like I’m in deep pain, but go with it. I promise I’m very comfortable and happy in this outfit. Mr. Struggle, who kindly took these photos, was also kind enough to brush at least a large portion of the cat hair off of me before these were taken. Cadfael also likes this outfit, clearly…

So there you go. Comfortable, easy, the perfect winter writer’s uniform. Who can ask for anything more?

I promise that now that all my gifts have been given and my life has calmed down I will be giving you more posts and more photos! Including wedding updates coming soon! So many things to make, so little time. Why can’t everything be made of Jersey? It really does make things easier….well at least I have my winter writing look down…

The Back To School Top

Guys, I love going back to school. I really do. School is the best. I really didn’t like that book The Golden Compass because the protagonist went to a weird Pseudo-Oxford and hated going to school and I was like, this girl is an idiot, school is the best. And also, weird spirit animals. And also, thinly veiled critique of the Church. And also, I’m not wild about Pullman’s writing style. BUT, all of that would have been just fine had she LIKED GOING TO SCHOOL. As I do. Because school is amazing! They let you learn stuff there! It’s great! And my joy is only mixed with sadness that I am in the second year of my program so there is no third year so HOW WILL I EVER FEEL THIS HAPPY AGAIN, OH GOD. (Sobs quietly in the corner for an hour.)

Okay, I’m good now, still sad but in a meditative way. And I’m not going to let future pain get in the way of present happiness! YOLO, am I right? Side note, my cousin Elyse and I have started using YOLO in the most inappropriate ways possible, and it’s catching on with my friends. Like, do you think that the housing market in the United States will recover in the projected times? Um, duh, YOLO! It’s pretty fun. Try it today!

So anyway, in celebration of the new school year and this fall weather that is, hypothetically, on its way… (seriously, we were on a nice streak there and then unexpected 85 degree weather today, are you kidding me? Stop messing around and let’s get autumn up in the piece, am I right? Come on, Fall, YOLO!) I made this “transitional piece” shirt. Yay! And I tried a new pattern. Yay! And a new look. Yay! And a new restaurant with my friend Allie (hi, Allie!) who took these photos. It was pretty good! Yays all around. Enough of this nonsense, to the clothing!

So this is Megan Nielson’s Briar Sweater/shirt pattern. I actually bought this to make for Allie, because she is tiny and lovely and the kind of person born for a crop top, unlike my own more, er, robust self. I did make the crop for Allie this summer (unblogged, sorry) and plan to make her another with longer sleeves from some lovely jersey from Mood, her choice, Allie has a great eye, but in the meantime I thought, well, there is a longer version, and while this isn’t the first thing I thought I would love, what’s the harm…

As it turns out, there is none! I never thought I would like something like this, the hi-low thing and I are not best friends forever, but I’m actually kind of wildly into it. It’s much more flattering than I thought it would be and also, I love this fabric very VERY much. It’s from Girl Charlee. Duh. Where else do I buy knits?

It’s super lightweight and soft, and the color gradient is very cool. I think it’s clearest in the first photo.

Plus, it has some nice back-door coverage, for those days you just want to throw a tarp over your junk in the trunk. Which is a lot of days for me, honestly. The fit is nice on this thing, a little roomy but ain’t nothing wrong with that in an airy knit top and also I think it will look nice tucked into skirts. We shall see, I suppose! I’m picturing it with a wool Pencil skirt, if it every gets cold enough…I know, I know, I complain and then in a month I will be the little match girl, craving the summer. Speaking of, this is a great song.

I like this shirt. I like the design, it’s quite modern, and I like the cut, despite my doubts. See, I like it so much I had to have a moment with this stairwell about it on St. Marks Street. I was not the weirdest person there. BY A LOT.

And there you go! This shirt is really quite simple to put together, it took me from cutting to hemming probably under 2 hours, or an episode and a half of Suits. I love Suits. Harvey Spector needs to call me. Not Gabriel Macht. Not the real person. The fictional character. He doesn’t know it yet, but we are in love.

Spoiler: I did not actually wear this on my first day of school, I wore it this past Monday, when the weather actually WAS a trifle cool and the sky was clear and I thought, here we go, let’s do this thing, Autumn. Maybe if I make another one it will get cool again? It’s got to be worth a shot….

Do you love school? Does autumn make you nostalgic? Or are you like Lara and you would rather be hanging out with street children who end up getting taken away and…I’m really not sure what happens next in the book, I really didn’t like it, guys…don’t hate me, Pullman fans! I like Harry Potter. BECAUSE THEY GO TO SCHOOL. Mind. Blown. YOLO.