I have always loved stripes, and although I obviously love colors, sometimes you just can’t beat a good black and white combo.
Each year this design is my #1 seller for Burning Man costumes. The pattern is my own design, for comfortable fit and stripe convergence.
These leggings are made out of slinky lycra that stretches 175% its original size! So they are equally perfect for dancing and gorging at a feast. You can get them in my Etsy shop now!
I made these pants for Burning Man 2013, but they were also great for New Year’s Eve.
The metallic rainbow fabric is just that, found in the clearance section at Joann, back in 2010. The teal waistband is a wonderful modal jersey that is now all gone from my fabric cabinet (but I also have two shirts and a turban from it).
I’d been planning on making balloon shorts out of this awesome metallic rainbow stripe, but felt that night-appropriate pants would be more spectacular. My #1 dream would have been to line the shorts with hot pink silk charmeuse to feel it sliding against my skin with every little step, but at night I tend to wear plain leggings underneath the genie pants for warmth, and so I simply used a striped cotton that was taking up space in my fabric annex (cardboard box under my desk).
I’ve been stash busting for a few months now, and I’m gaining a lot of momentum. And free space! Free space in my sewing cabinet, but not in my closet…
Work has been a little slow relaxed lately, and I’ve been taking advantage of the break to finish projects that are cluttering up my cutting table.
I really loved wearing genie pants at Burning Man this year, and I’m trying to resist my typical urge to make 20 pairs for the week-long festival. I can be minimal-ish with my everyday wardrobe, but I have zero restraint when it comes to costumes and playa wear. These pants are basically the same as my original set, but fuller! Before I gathered it into the waistband, the top was about 80″ wide. It’s wonderfully ridiculous.
These pants are so comfortable; they have become my default lounge pants. I’m wearing them right now as I write this, and probably whenever you are reading this.
The jersey has such wonderful drape and movement! I’m completely hypnotized by the stripes!
I know it’s a lot of pictures, but I love them all and it’s my blog. It was a little awkward taking these pictures in the alley by myself; when my husband is holding the camera it’s obvious to passers-by what’s going on. It looks a little strange when I’m jumping around in front of a stack of boxes with a tiny tripod on top.
The pink stripes are a cotton jersey that I also made a dress from.
Early February in Los Angeles means that I’m planning my summer wardrobe. I’m only half kidding.
Not only were all the fabrics used for this tank scraps, but they were scraps from projects that I sold. That is stash-busting with a vengeance! Also, it took about 20 minutes.
The yoke fabric is a cotton-lycra blend, and the awesome geo-delic print at the bottom is pure synthetic. I feel like I need a red bra to wear with this.
BTW, I totally just wore this outfit to my doctor’s office. I tried to put on regular pants, but just couldn’t do it, and every single person who I encountered did a head-to-toe double take. Also, all you ladies get your HPV vaccines ASAP.
You may recognize the leggings from my Animal Collective tee–this is my spirit fabric!
Even I’m only just able to go out bare-legged, tanks are always great for layering. Huzzah!
Isn’t my husband so cute? We took these pictures at LACMA’s Stanley Kubrick exhibit, which was very cool.
Jason’s office is creative and casual enough that he wears a tee shirt just about every single day, but I decided that he needed a new button-down shirt anyway. Sometimes a tee shirt doesn’t cut it, but he should still be able to dress a little fancy (by which I mean different, and often in strange patterns).
I used Simplicity 5366. The pattern’s measurements classified Jason as large, but I wound up taking the whole shirt in to a medium. I found the cuff placket to be a little confusing (it was my first time!), but otherwise the shirt went together very easily and rather quickly.
It was really satisfying to just cut out a pattern and make a shirt, with no modifications or major design decisions. Almost automatic. This shirt wound up being the wearable muslin for Jason’s wedding shirt, which will eventually be posted…
My beloved Pfaff doesn’t have an automatic buttonhole feature, but I honestly enjoy taking the time to make the buttonholes manually (but still on the machine). Obviously I have much more control, and I was never completely satisfied with that function on my Singer. I hardly ever need buttonholes anyway.
At some point I will make the western-style version of the pattern. I might try Collete’s Negroni some day, but Jason hardly wears this style shirt as it is, so why invest in a collection of patterns?
I made his pants too, from a very soft upholstery velvet. Maybe one day I’ll get a post just for those.
I had these pants for about a year, and never really wore them because they were so tight! I was told that they looked OK, but they were not comfortable. I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to adding in the side panels, but now they fit me great!
I actually unstitched the side seams (rather than cutting at the seam) and then added the 2.5″ wide strip of scrap jersey. This left a gap in the waistband, which I covered with this blue elastic I had lying around. Now I don’t ever need to wear a belt with these pants, because they are tight enough in the waistband but as comfortable as sweatpants!
Not only were the additional fabrics random pieces finally used from my stash, but they made these pants much more wearable. I’ve since given this treatment to other pants for a few friends.
In the same vein, I added a new hood to this shirt I always wear. And yet I don’t have a ‘before’ shot… I got it at Forever 21 about 5 years ago. It’s made from French terry and very comfortable, but the original hood was completely useless, and showed a lot of chest. I copied this hood from a thrifted Old Navy shirt. Basically this post is completely debunking the rumor that I never buy clothes.
Stash busting + improving store-bought clothes = win