A new pair of trousers

I love it when I get a good variety of crafting done in a short space of time. The past couple weeks I've done crocheting, earring making, fixed up my rocking chair and made myself a pair of summer trousers. And that's not all! I've also made some new extracts and whipped up my first herbal vinegar and finished some very good books. I'll do more detailed posts on some of these other things, but today the spotlight is on the pants....Or should I say "Pantaloons"?

No, I don't think pantaloons is the right word. They're not voluminous enough. Haha.  This is my second pair of pants that I've made in this fashion, the pattern is my own, though I can't claim to have really designed it. I mean, you see pants like this all over the place in the east. I like to call them my "Aladdin pants" or sometimes my "gypsy trousers."  These ones are even more fantasy-gypsy style because of the two-tone design I gave them. I love the style and I love these colours. My first pair I made several years ago and have loved  them near to death, though, despite the wear and fading they've taken, I have to say I'm proud of how sturdy they've been so far and how well they've held up! Not bad for a hand-sewn novice job I'd say. You can see a picture of me in the old pair in my vest coat refashion post.

I'm very happy to have two pairs, because now I can rotate them during the summer months. They are very comfy and keep one quite cool when the weather is hot. Also, I get compliments on them all the time, which I love. Who doesn't love getting compliments?

Bonus! I made a little sachet with some of the scraps. It was surprisingly quick to make and filled with dried lavender buds it smells delightful.

The Orange Dress

This is a dress I've been planning and thinking about for a while now. I was looking at my sketchbook and saw some sketch/concepts for it dated May 2009! I figured it was about time to get it done. I was mostly inspired to do so because refashion co-op had a "Dress Challenge" and I totally meant to enter. I think I may be too late, now. I believe the last day to enter a dress for it was May 21st, which ended five minutes ago.  I finished it Thursday but neglected to post it until now, sadly.

I made it out of this old green t-shirt that John didn't want anymore and this orange* floral fabric that someone used as gift wrapping for me at one point....Pay no attention to the dates, my camera a little senile at this point.

 I'm totally loving these colours. The fabric has little green leaves that really look nice with the green shirt.

 I gave it a lace up back but I think it looks a little shoddy, so I believe I'll re-do it someday. For now I'll wear it as is to the beach and other casual summery outings.



*John thinks it's more of a peach than an orange.

Fair are the meadows, fair are the woodlands...

Today is misty, damp and cool. Serenity fills the air alongside birdsong and chipmunk chirps. Bursts of spring rain start and stop; a gift from the low cloudy skies.
While in the woods this morning I felt overcome by the beauty and peace this spring has wrought so far. It inspired me to sing and what better place to do so than in the woods where no one but a few woodland animals can hear you?

I felt transcendental; singing as I tramped through damp leaves and admired ferns and fiddleheads, buds and blooms, leaves and laurels. The song that foremost came to my mind was the hymn Fairest Lord Jesus. The second verse in particular, though all the words to that song are sublime and the tune is glorious.

If you don't know it, here is a rather nice arrangement of it being played on the piano. And the lyrics are beneath, strewn among the many photographs I took today.*

1 Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
Son of God and Son of Man!

Thee will I cherish, thee will I honor,

Thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

 2 Fair are the meadows, fair are the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring:

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

 

3 Fair is the sunshine, fair is the moonlight,
And all the twinkling, starry host:

 Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heav'n can boast

  4-Beautiful Saviour! Lord of the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!

 Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and for evermore be thine.

I was a bit disappointed that as I sang, no cutesy woodland creatures came to dance and play around me. Maybe next time, eh?

For now, a cup of tea is called for on this drizzly day.



**I took all of these this morning, despite what some of the dates say. The dating thing on my camera is wonky sometimes and half way through it started acting up. Whatever, haha.

Refashion Magic

This past week I made an amazing skirt...Out of an old pair of pants. It may be my best refashion project yet!

Springy, stretchy knit dance pants

It started when I got my amazing turquoise and brown striped socks for my birthday. I have a plethora of shirts and blouses that matched the turquoise stripe, but as I searched my closets I realised...I had no brown skirts! This must be remedied, thought I. I grabbed up a brown pair of pants. They were the stretchy, swingy, wide legged dance style pants. The kind that almost look like a skirt if you keep your legs close together as you wear them.

I hardly ever wore these pants; they were too short for my style, and slightly too large for my waist anyway. I thought about simply cutting the inseam apart and resewing it together skirt style but I didn't like that idea. It would be too long and the material wasn't right for a long skirt. It would make a nice knee length skirt, I thought.

Recently, I found a skirt at the thrift store that has since become my favourite skirt. It's made of the stretchy, springy nylon stuff, is an aqua green colour and has a floaty, uneven, wavy hemline. It looks like a fairy skirt. I, then knew, as I looked at my brown pants, exactly what style skirt I'd try to make.

I pose with my teapots

I cut the inseam and then cut uneven waves off the bottom of each pant leg. (I regret now that I did not take pictures of this part.) It looked good but not good enough. Just the pants, cut, cropped and resewn as a skirt didn't seem right. Not wide enough, not flared enough. It hung limply. It needed some gores. I snipped up the side of each leg and used the cut off pant legs to be large triangle style gores. I sewed them all together and voila! A really lovely skirt.

A spin shot

 It has flare and bounce and goes really well with my socks. Turns out, it also goes really well with one of my other best refashion garments: A blue striped bodice-vest I made out of an old button up collar shirt.

awesome

The lace up back on my refashioned bodice

This kind of outfit makes you feel magical. And it's perfect for Spring and Summer.

Update 5/2/11 5:30pm: While browsing one of my favourite refashion sites Refashion Co-op, I noticed they have a refashion "dress challenge" Which sounds totally awesome! And I think I'm going to try and make a dress for it. I don't get to refashioning as often as I like, but I love it and I would love to have motivation to do it more often (as if I need more clothes, haha) so I'm thinking of joining the co-op. We'll see! In the meantime, you should check out their site as it's mega cool and pretty inspiring!

Being a collection of early spring photos, primarily of flowers and mainly daffodils

Ahhh. I Love long titles. 

Well today is simply a a gorgeous day.  It started out gray and rainy just like the past several days have been, and then, half way through, something amazing happened: 

The sun BLOOMED out of the clouds. I threw open a window and let a warm breeze in, I dressed up in pretty clothes and danced around. I went down to our spring where we get water and admired bright blooming sprays of festive forsythia and dancing daffodils and perky poppies and darling dandelions all turning their heads to the sun. All flowers are sunflowers, secretly. 

Well, these are photos of early spring, as my title indicates, though they are as recent as a couple days ago. If I were to go out and walk around some with my camera, I'm sure I'd find many more flowers now blooming than just the ones pictured. I know for a fact that there are lots of trees now bursting forth in flower and that the forsythia are even more crazy today than the pictures I have of it. I'll go out and take more photos today and tomorrow and post those later. For now, enjoy these!

Flowers for sale down the road

White

Forsythia budding

Forsythia Blooming ( a week later)

Hyacinth and daffodil

And the daffodils look lovely today...

Red tulips, pale daffodils

Cherry blossom, I think

Purple petunias! And a corner of orange.

Beautiful colours

More flowers for sale

Look how green that grass is!

They look like they're singing

A splash of colour on a rainy evening

Natures first green really IS gold....

Wordless Wednesday: Colours of Fall

It feels a bit funny to be posting these autumnal pictures with spring rounding the corner the way it is, but I did say I would! So, here are the promised photos from last Autumn. Enjoy!