my turn at cold weather clothes

after making dad a million pairs of fleece pants, it was time for me to make myself a pair, seeing as the green monkey flannel pj pants i made myself a couple years ago is wearing very thin in the knees.  as a pattern, i used the same old pair of pj pants that i used to make the 3 pairs of kenya gauze cotton pants.  why mess with something that works, right?

i scored this flannel a couple years ago at joann fabric's black friday sale for something like $1.25 a yard.  for you non-sewists (ok that's like all of you except shirley, hehe), this is ridiculously cheap.  i bought 1.5 yards, so this pair of pants cost me $1.88!!!  i made a faux drawstring for the front:

i tried my best to line up the stripes on the sides... until the hips and booty part, at least.  not bad, right?

and the back.  nice lined-up v's!  (i need to learn some photography, yo.  these pics are so blurry.)

i serged the insides and topstitched each seam for extra stability (i've been known to split the booty of my pants).  quite proud of the quality of these pjs.  the fabric for this project was also cut this spring.  ashamed!!  making good progress on my stack of old projects!  last up is the last puppy, for my friend's friend's baby.  his bday party is on my bday.  little guy is #stealingmythunder

round 2 of dad's super thick fleece pants

remember when i made dad thick fleece pants exactly like this several christmases ago?  well, he didn't like them.  didn't like that there was no cinching in the legs.  (REALLY, dad????)  mom usurped that pair and made me take in the pant leg width a ton (they were super wide because i used size medium of a standard sewing pattern).  ain't nobody in my family that wears mediums.  we're small folks, hehe.  in fact, those were the fleece pants i sported for the month i was at home post acl-reconstruction surgery.  they were amazing, although huge.  my full leg brace could fit in the pant leg!

i still had a ton of that super thick fleece and since the rents like to keep the house at frigid temps, i decided to use the rest of the fleece to make dad another pair of sweats, in the style of the other 2 pairs that i already made for him.  with cinched legs...

for some reason, whenever i hang pants on my front door, they look so short!  hehe.  this fleece is super thick.  stitching the waistband was a nightmare.  i broke a pair of my twin needles =(

here's one of the cinched legs.  i sew pretty straight, don't i?  i'll take cinched legs over cinched sleeves any day!  so much easier!

patagonia got jealous

when i made dad his navy fleece jacket this winter, he loved it so much that he asked me for another.  this time he wanted the pockets to have a zipper so that he could store his keys and/or wallet in there for when he went for a run or a bike ride.  with another $4.99 fleece blanket, i fulfilled his request.  it's pretty badass, if you ask me:

those zippers, sheesh.  not easy to put in.  i'm also such a clever girl that i inserted the main body zipper below the collar initially... oops.  i have some serious visual/spatial awareness issues. 

here's the back.  nothing special.  the hems were finished with a twin needle.  the cuffs have elastic closures, also done with a twin needle.  omg, sewing such tiny cinched closures with a twin needle (not the sturdiest of needles because i also have 2 with which to contend) was a total nightmare.  easily took an hour per cuff!

i even had extra fleece leftover to make dad some cinched sweatpants.  they're not really that short... i dunno why they look so tiny.  the scraps were used for the puppies i made this spring.  yes, this fleece has been cut for the jacket and pants since spring.  #slackerdaughter

last week, when the rents were in town, i also made some homemade hummus (this time with tahini and no avocado...  real hummus, folks!).  i cut some of the salt that the recipe suggested.  i can't stand how salty store-bought food is!  why not let the consumer salt to their own preference?  amirite?

mom got in on the crafty extravaganza.  she cut out a pants pattern and was tracing it on the wool of a pair of pants she had from years ago that she never wore because they were too big.  clever, isn't she? 

(omg i'm in awe that she's endeavored to sew pants as her first self-made garment!  from whom do you think i get my gutsiness???)

the bunks was super cute throughout all this crafting.  look how poised the lazy boy is!

croatia and new top for the nyc philharmonic concert

my friend emma and i took a 2 week vacay to bari, italy and croatia right after school ended.  bari wasn't anything special, but then we took an overnight ferry (i swear we were gonna sink!) from bari to dubrovnik, croatia.  people looked at me funny all trip...  i was sporting a big hiking backpack and a serious-looking knee brace:

 

this was my first time in croatia, and holy moly was it beautiful.  mountains led right to the shore.  we had to drive for 3 hrs through bosnia to get to the croatian town of makarska, the prettiest of the places we went:  

the mountain range in the back had the 2nd highest peak in all of croatia, sveti jure.  hell yeah, we hiked it!  the sign at the beginning of the path said it would take 2 hrs 30 mins.  lonely planet claimed 4 hours.  we took 5.5 hrs.  often we hiked at the very edge of cliffs.  so thrilling.  slow and steady wins the race, right?

views at the top were STUNNING.  you apparently can see italy in the far far distance, but i'm not sure which little lump of land it was.

we drove on to an island called hvar and then ended our trip in split.  the drive was beautiful.  a typical view:

i'm proud to admit that i returned home with no new fabric whatsoever.  #winning!!  

yesterday the nyc philharmonic put on a free concert in prospect park.  they set off the most beautiful fireworks afterwards (better than the 4th of july ones!!).  coworkers and i picnicked.  i contributed 2 batches of homemade avocado hummus (aka bean guac, according to shirley).  deliciousness, i tell you!

bunks was bored out of his mind.  avocado and chickpeas do not interest him, apparently.  he napped at my feet:

and of course, i had to wear a me-made top.  my first of the summer!  i used butterick 5637, the tunic length on the right,

and this salmon pink cotton-lycra blend that shirley gave me.  so soft, yo!!  

the back had gathering in the center of the peplum layer.

and here's the front.  thanks to dearest madeline for taking this pic of my coworker brian and me enroute to the concert.  

happy summer!!!  on to my next project: mom's bday present!  (it's at the end of august... i need a serious head-start hehe)