Black Dress with Epic Pink Collar: Part 1

I picked up this lovely number at a clothing swap in January. I tried it on and it was a little too tight for my taste, but come on. There's just no leaving behind a garment with a collar that awesome behind.

I'm pretty much a sucker for ruffles and buttons.

I chopped off the bottom half (check back for Part 2 when I remake the bottom half!) to turn this baby into a shirt. 

I found this fantastic strategy for hemming knits that I absolutely love: http://www.sweetnsassygirls.com/2011/07/an-easy-way-to-hem-knits.html. Shout out to this blog, this strategy is ingenious and super easy to do. I gave it another shot on this shirt (last attempt was a bit uneven...)

I folded and serged the hem, then topstitched it.

And ta-da! I really love this one, and the long sleeves will be perfect for the summer (San Francisco weather...if you don't live here, don't even ask). 

Stay tuned for Part 2! I have plans for the leftover bottom piece...

-Taft

Black Sweatpants

Hello, Spring! Hello, lacrosse season!

With all good things come the less than fantastic, mainly freezing your posterior off on the sidelines of a lacrosse game. So to protect against frostbite in the southern regions, I went to Fabric Outlet during their 40% off sale and picked up some sweatshirt fleece with the intention of making this pattern that I got from my grandma:

80's sweatpants! (Mom's nostalgic right now, I just know she is.)

However, when I went to trace the pattern, the sweatpants pattern was missing from the envelope.

So, to the internet we went! 20 minutes and a half dozen crafting sites later, I found this pattern from BurdaStyle. They call them "Jersey Trousers", but those are sweatpants. Come on.

Shut up. They're sweatpants. (He's hands-down my favorite designer from Project Runway. #teamchristopher)

They wanted knit ribbing for the waistband and cuff, but after spending so much on the fleece, I was having none of that. Besides, I'm on the shorter side, so losing that length would probably be perfect.

Cutting out fabric!

I'm especially proud of the pockets on these, I think they look really good! They're enormous, so I'll definitely make the next pair a bit smaller.

The elastic on the cuffs is perfect; tight enough that they don't slip too much but loose enough that I can pull them on over my cleats.

When I first wore them, my friend T made sure that everyone on my team knew that I had made my own pants. She said (and I quote directly) "I will make them listen!" She's the best :)

Next up: a pair of green ones and maybe a pair in a lighter fabric? I'm also considering scaling them up to fit over all my goalie gear.

Stay warm on the sidelines, fellow benchwarmers! And have a lovely spring!

-Taft WK