Knickers!

First of all, I apologize again for the terrible quality of these photos. I even used a real camera this time! Apparently, even with all of the advances in technology, it still takes some skill that neither my husband nor I possess to take a quality picture. Oh well!

Here are my finished knickers:

For once, I did cut off my head on purpose; after a weekend of camping, my hair was not at its best. The knickers still looked good, though, if a little wrinkly!
I did make some changes to the original pattern. I removed the pleats in the front and added darts in the back, and I added a lining. I also omitted the belt loops and the pockets, but these omissions were more out of necessity, as I was in a serious time crunch. I made the ends of the waist and leg bands pointed, just because I like the way it looks. :)
Here is a detail of the waist and leg bands. I topstitched every seam and edge, because (as usual) I used $1.00-a-yard fabric from Wal-mart, and it did not press very well. I'm glad that I had to do this, though, because it really made them look more finished. I thought the material would end up looking cheap, but it really doesn't. Please try to ignore the horrible topstiching (again, as usual, I was frantically finishing these 10 minutes before I was supposed to be walking out the door) and just focus on the cute vintage buttons!


You can't tell from the picture, but my tights have a nice thick cable-knit. I looked all over for these, and all I could find outside of very expensive catalogs were thin patterned pantyhose, not the thick tights that I wanted. I remembered wearing these as a child, so I checked the children's section, and there they were! Cheap! One advantage of being short is that I can wear large children's sizes (my sweater is also a child's vintage sweater), so I got a pair in every color!

I hate to admit this, but I did not use my best sewing skills when making these, mostly because I was in a big hurry, but also because I knew that I would not be wearing them very often. I'm not really an outdoorsy kind of person, so I'm not sure what opportunities I will have to wear them. What do you think? Where would you wear them?

Okay, So I Lied...

Well, I am obviously not so much for power-blogging. Hey, you know, when you are taking care of a one year-old and a dog who will both eat whatever comes across their paths, there is a new crisis every day! (Side note: be sure to keep corncobs away from dogs and babies...) Also, I know that I promised photos of my new knickers, but the awful truth is that I have no idea how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer, which is why I usually take pictures with my camera phone (hence the terrible quality). So, I will have to wait until my husband has a chance to do it for me.

In the meantime, I have discovered the reason that the hair salon/consignment shop (or as I like to call it, "Ye Olde Grammar Mangler") needs a side business. Here is an example of a haircut being offered at said shop:


It's hard to tell from the photo, but those are pink and purple frosted tips.

Now, these guys





might be thinking, "Yes! I thought they stopped offering that style in 1998!", but the rest of us will probably want to stay on the consignment shop side. Unless, of course, you care about the preservation of the English language, in which case, you may just want to say "Bye Bye Bye" to the whole shop.

Hallowe'en...a week later

Yikes! Two whole weeks without a post; I will need to power-blog for the next few days to make up for it! I do have a semi-excuse: I spent much of that time setting up for, hosting, and cleaning up after my annual Hallowe'en bash. I am a HUGE fan of Hallowe'en (especially spelled with an apostrophe)! I moved all of the furniture out of my living room and set up a long table for 20. Here are some pictures:




This was the next morning; it was much spookier by candlelight. The birds also look much better at night, and there are many more than can be seen in the photos. I wanted crows en masse, but they are so expensive. A few years ago, I was at Wal-Mart and I saw these plastic hunting dove decoys (our fabric section is inexplicably right next to the hunting section). They are $1.00 each, and spray-painted black and viewed in semi-darkness, they do a good imitation of a flock of crows. Bonus: they also come with a clip glued to the bottom, so I can just clip them onto branches, lamps, etc. I buy and paint a few more every year, so I have quite a flock going!

Here is a terrible picture of my costume:

I made this dress four years ago and decided that to justify the time it took to make (two months!) and the price of the fabric, I would need to wear it for at least five years! I made it using Simplicity3782 and some beautiful upholstery fabric from Hancock. I then spent about two weeks just sewing the beads and pearls on by hand. It was definitely more hand-sewing than I ever want to do again!
Here is a detail of the bodice:



And one of the sleeve showing the hand-sewn pearls. Ridiculous!



The headpiece was made from a headband, a bent wire hanger, and pantyhose. I bent the hanger over the headband to make the shape, and then stretched the pantyhose over it. I painted the hose, which gave it some color and also stiffened it. I then trimmed it and added some beads, et voila! A headpiece worthy of Queen Elizabeth (especially in the dark)!


I was really just happy that it finally fit like it was supposed to again; I was pregnant on Hallowe'en two years ago, so I had to make a cape to cover up the fact that the back wouldn't lace closed! Last year, I hadn't lost much baby weight four months after my son was born, so the cape made another appearance. This year I was able to finally retire the cape; hooray!

Tune in tomorrow for Day Two of my power-blogging: Knickers!