So I made me some pants: Plinka Pants

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Sometimes inspiration strikes at the oddest moments.

For a while now I’ve wanted to return to a regular yoga practice and recently tried a new studio.  Settling in for class, I spied some fantastic pants a couple rows ahead of me. What grabbed my attention was how much they were not like typical yoga pants. They were a deep russet color, wide-legged and really flowy. They appeared to be made from linen or voile — something very lightweight. Definitely not your basic black fitted lycra yoga pant. And henceforth I became obsessed with the thought of soft, flowy yoga pants.

And, so, did I make myself yoga pants? Nope. I guess this is a case where the end product strayed a bit from the genesis of my inspiration. My pants are wide-legged, relaxed and linen, but not really yoga class attire. I’ve worn them out a few times now and I think they are a unique and stylish summer option. Especially helpful for covering mosquito-bitten legs, while keeping you cool on warm days.

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I don’t recall exactly the path that led me to these pants, but it started with scrolling through linen fabric choices online late one night, and then somehow stumbling onto some great patterns by designer Tina Givens. I purchased some patterns (more reveals coming soon!) and also downloaded the free pattern for her Plinka Pants.

These pants were my introduction to Tina Givens. I’m still wondering how I’d never heard of her. I love that her designs are so unfussy but still feminine. And they leave plenty of room for you to add your own design elements and embellishments. I’m giving myself way too much credit here, but I felt a certain kinship with her design vision. Scrolling through her pattern gallery I was struck by how similar some of her designs are to the items I sketch for myself or rip from magazines or simply imagine wearing.

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The sewing was easy but the instructions are pretty light (about one page of instruction!). I guess I have become spoiled with the high level of direction, photographs and diagrams included by most of the independent pattern makers I have sewn. It’s not that the techniques used in these pants were tricky, but I think it would definitely be helpful to have a good understanding of the techniques involved, as well as the basics of constructing clothes, so that you can follow along with the limited directions. This is not the kind of pattern that includes instruction on the individual techniques needed to complete the pattern. I couldn’t for the life of me understand the description for the final step of attaching the ruffle along the pant hem. I just attached it the way I typically add a ruffle trim, even though I think a different method was being described.

The only advice I would share about the pattern (and I think this might apply generally to TG patterns, since it was also relevant to the next TG pattern I tried) is that her style is very relaxed — there is nothing fitted about these items!! — and depending on your personal comfort level with additional fullness in your clothing (i.e., is this a romantic, flow-y look, or do I look like I’m smuggling something in my clothes?), you may want to reduce some of that fullness. I sewed a size small (her pattern sizes cover a wide range), altered the pattern to shorten the length to about mid-calf and reduced some of the fullness in the legs. Yep, this is the reduced fullness version! These are very wide-legged pants – kind of a ruffled hem version of a harem pant. As one of my friends remarked, “It looks like a skirt, until you start walking.”

I tried taking some photographs holding the pant legs out to their fullest width to make my point about the fullness, but the result was so ridiculous looking I just couldn’t post them. We are in the middle of toilet-training my daughter, and the way I looked in the photos reminded me of the way my daughter walks when she’s had an accident and wants her pants off ASAP. Actually this whole photography session was humorous because I was using the self-timer on my camera and running back and forth taking shots and posing, trying to accomplish it all within the 24 minute window I had while the kids watched a television show On Demand.  And any typical self-consciousness about having my picture taken was compounded by the fact I was paranoid my neighbors could watch my silly sprint-filled photo shoot on the porch.

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These pants are super comfortable. And the linen-rayon blend fabric I used is perfect. It provides a nice drape but doesn’t wrinkle the way pure linen does. And, I scored it on sale at Jo-Anns, which made these pants a super bargain considering the pattern was graciously provided for free on the Tina Givens website.

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I’m actually starting to re-think my statement that these pants wouldn’t work for yoga! They are so relaxed, not restrictive in the least. Or maybe I’ve been confusing them with pajamas — nice bed head, huh?

Happy start to summer!

KCW Spring ’14: Striped Top Clamdiggers

KCW Spring 14 Clamdiggers by fromwholecloth

My spring Kids Clothes Week sewing went all the way through Sunday night, and then a little bit of “corrective” sewing spilled over to this morning. The KCW challenge is supposed to last for a full seven days – Monday through Sunday – but I’ll admit I’m not always good at putting in my KCW sewing hours over the weekend. Sometimes it’s because I’ve sewn like crazy during the week and feel satisfied that I’ve accomplished my personal KCW goals, other times I’m just ready for a break because the sewing didn’t go as planned, and then still other times life has different plans and the weekends end up hectic and without much time to sneak in some sewing.

These short pants (which were originally envisioned as shorts and turned into these “clamdigger” length pants) came out exactly as I had hoped they would. I am particularly happy that my stripes lined up; the striped fabric was a bit slippery so I pinned it like mad to keep everything in place. My inspiration was drawn from this photo I saw on Pinterest and pinned to my KCW Planning board. I used Made by Rae’s Parsley Pants pattern as the base for these pants. While Eli would typically wear a size 5T in the Parsley Pants pattern, because I was using stretchy knit fabric for these pants, I used the size 4T pattern to compensate for the fabric choice. Using Rae’s tutorial on how to make shorts from a pants pattern, I altered the pattern for the shorter length. I also needed to modify the pattern to allow for the two different fabrics (the striped top and the solid bottom). I handled this modification the way you typically would to insert colorblocking in a pattern. Lastly, I added elastic to the bottom hems. The knit fabrics were both purchased from Girl Charlee online.

KCW striped top clamdiggers by fromwholecloth

KCW striped clamdiggers by fromwholecloth

As happy as I am with the end result, I have a KCW confession to make — these pants took way, way, way longer to make than they should have! The pants were not technically difficult and I’ve used the Parsley Pants pattern enough times to feel comfortable with it. Instead, this KCW Spring project was befallen by certain filial distractions and my own perfectionism. Thankfully both the pants and I have lived to tell the tale!

KCW clamdiggers by fromwholecloth

KCW clamdiggers by fromwholecloth

I started the pants on Saturday during what was supposed to be naptime. Daisy napped. Eli did not. But I was obstinately intent on sewing. If we were watching an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, this is when the narrator would announce, “And then there was trouble.” I convinced Eli it would be fun to help his dad with spring cleaning in the yard, but that only lasted long enough for me to modify the pattern and cut my fabric. By the time I was sitting down at the sewing machine, he was sitting in my sewing studio, asking a million questions and touching everything he could reach. My sewing room is typically off limits to the kids, so this was causing me to sweat. But did I stop sewing?? Nope. Well, not until I realized that in my distraction I had sewn the striped top portion upside down onto the bottom half. Grrrrr… So, it was back to the cutting table, because I was determined not to pick out all the stitches.  At that point I decided to lengthen the pants legs to just below the knee. I love this clamdigger length on boys’ pants. I think it works perfectly for spring and summer, and I’m glad I made the change to lengthen these. (How’s that for finding the silver lining!?)

I picked up the project again on Sunday and it was smooth sailing until at the very end I decided I didn’t like the way some of the waistband stitching looked. In my first version some of the stitching appeared on the white portion of the striped fabric and some on the black portion. Although the seam was straight, it ended up looking sloppy because the line was visible in some parts but not in others. And so, as much as I sincerely despise ripping stitches out of knit fabric, I ripped out the entire waistband seam (zigzagged stiches, no less — ugh!). Let’s just say that’s an hour of my life I won’t be getting back! By then it was late, I was annoyed, and thankfully made the decision to go to bed and re-do the waistband casing this morning! Today’s efforts resulted in a much cleaner waistband seam. Even though it was completely annoying to pick out a million little stitches, if I hadn’t fixed it, it would have made me insane to look at the messy seam every time Eli wore these pants. (Who am I kidding? I probably wouldn’t have let him wear the pants if I hadn’t fixed that seam!!)

KCW clamdiggers by fromwholecloth

Seam neuroses aside, I had a fun Kids Clothes Week. I just may not be able to look at my seam ripper for a week or so.


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KCW Spring ’14: Woodland Leggings and Knit Cardigan

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More Kids Clothes Week spring sewing. And more comfy knits that proved perfect for the park today.

Leggings details:

Fabric: Jay Cyn Designs for Birch Organics, knit, purchased from Fabricworm

Pattern: Go To Patterns leggings pattern, size 2T

Cardigan details:

Fabric: knit interlock from Jo-Anns

Pattern: Slouchy Cardigan by heidiandfinn, size 2T, modified with shorter cuff

WoodlandLeggings

The leggings were inspired by a post on the winthrop chronicles about leggings that the author, Sarah, made her daughter. I had been coveting this knit fabric on the Fabricworm site and musing about what to make with it. When I saw the leggings Sarah made, my mind was made up and I just had to have this fabric. Birch Organics has such wonderful woven and knit fabrics, and I especially love the designs by Jay Cyn Designs. I previously used a different design for a birthday girl’s horse skirt. Daisy and I have been playing “I Spy” with these leggings, trying to identify all the woodland animals it features.

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The knit was very easy to sew, probably because it is not very stretchy and is a nice thick cotton that doesn’t slip when sewing. The size 2T in this leggings pattern is still slightly big on Daisy. I think the fabric will actually show a bit better when the fit is more snug.

Mom Cardigan

In a nod to KCW’s theme of “Mini Me”, the cardigan I made Daisy was inspired by the cardigan I wear all the time. All. The. Time. I recall when I purchased it in early 2009. I was in J.Crew looking for some clothes for an upcoming trip to St. Thomas with dear friends. I loved the cardigan (it’s a medium weight french terry) but thought it seemed pricey for what is essentially a sweatshirt. My husband convinced me to buy it, and I can unequivocally say I have gotten my money’s worth! It has served me well.

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There is also another aspect of “Mini Me” to this cardigan. The fabric comes from a knit dress I made myself that was a HUGE miss. I accidentally purchased the knit dress pattern in the wrong size, then accidentally ripped it when opening the package (rendering it unable to be returned), and was too cheap to repurchase the pattern in the correct size. So, I tried scaling the pattern to my size, and it didn’t work — at all.  It was reminiscent of a hospital gown or a muumuu. At least I was able to reuse the fabric, although I wish I had taken a picture before cutting it up! The only problem is that I did not have enough fabric to cut one straight piece for the wide binding that runs along the cardigan. I actually had to piece three separate cuts together for the requisite 54 inch binding, and that resulted in an obvious and annoying seam on the left side of the binding at about chest level. Hence the little fuschia rectangle I attached in an attempt to cover the seam and add a little flair. Kind of a weak fix, but better than having to stare at that misplaced seam!

It was my first time using the cardigan pattern, and I liked it a lot. It was a relatively quick and easy project, with good instructions.

Daisy seemed really comfortable in her new clothes. She did, however, keep trying to button or close the cardigan front. I had to keep explaining that this sweatshirt does not close. Once she started running around the park, she didn’t give it another thought.

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Two more days left in KCW. I’m not sure what’s up next for me. But my son is definitely quite aware that so far I have sewn for only Daisy. I may be guilted into making him some sweatpants after all.


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KCW Spring ’14: Reptile Pants

Basic black pants?

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Guess again.

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Holy slithering stretch pants, Batman!

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This is my first contribution to Kids Clothes Week Spring 2014. In keeping with the Kids Clothes Week theme of “Mini Me”, I fashioned these pants for my daughter out of a knit shirt from my closet.

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I think I wore this shirt all of three times. I scored it off the sale rack at Ann Taylor years ago, with the thought that it would be something a little funky to pair with a more conservative suit back in my lawyering days. It never worked just right though. It was calling out to be reborn as pants for Daisy.

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She is fascinated by the snake print. “Am I a snake, Mommy?”

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I used the basic toddler sweatpants pattern by brindilleandtwig as my starting point. The pattern is super easy and lends itself well to modifications. It is a two piece pattern (one piece for the pant front and one for the pant back), which I thought would best accommodate using different fabrics for the front and back of these pants.

I cut the legs slimmer than the pattern calls for to achieve the style I had in mind. I also cut the front piece narrower than the back, so that the black fabric curves a bit more to the front.  The solid black fabric on the back of the legs is ponte roma from Jo-Ann’s. It doesn’t have a great deal of stretch, but the snake print fabric is a rayon/spandex blend that is super stretchy.

These pants are definitely different from anything in her closet. I’m happy with how they turned out — although I don’t have a clue what shoes to pair with them! I was initially concerned the snake print might be too precocious for a two-year old, but paired with her toddler belly these pants are way more amusing than sassy.

Reptile Pants

kid's clothes week


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