R. H. Seamstrix

The (modified) pants are complete! I started out using Simplicity pattern S1069 but then changed more and more once I realized the pants would be too tight for me if I didn't alter something. The original pattern didn't have the side panels, and the belt would have been all one fabric. But I used a complementary but distinct fabric for the belt, and I added colorful side panels in between what would have been the side seams on the legs. This also meant I needed to cut my own waistband panels. By the time I started modifying I'd already installed the zipper, so the waistband elastic is a bit wonky. If I did this over again, intending to modify it, I would have closed the back without a zipper and changed the waistband structure a bit so that it was more elastic-friendly. Overall, I'm very happy with this as a garment for me!     

I finished the tie belt for the pants, and made progress on the waistband. I'm very happy with how it's progressing, the tie belt look great! The colorful fabrics are different on purpose, my end goal is to try and have partly interchangeable clothing which each have fabrics in this same blend of colors but with very different patterns. I obtained these and two others recently, and they'll be able to fit with various solid fabrics.    

I'd been sewing what I thought was a fairly unremarkable pair of slightly wide blue pants when it turned out that, due to some combination of pattern size and inflexible fabric, the finished pants weren't going to fit me. I immediately pivoted to add colorful side panels and am probably going to add some elastic on the sides in the waistband. There's a zipper in the back, and I love how the side panels make the pants much more like the wide-leg designs I favor.    

After a few weeks of wearing the quilted long vest without clasps, I decided what clasp type I want and I attached three frog closures. The vest is complete! The black of the clasps works well with the mottled purple of the bias tape edges, and I'm very pleased with it overall. This vest was made with Simplicity pattern S9593, but uses a different closure than what is directed in the pattern.

I finished the moth! The plushie pattern is by  BeeZeeArt , and I used most of my remaining Whale Song Blue Ombre fabric for the outside. I scaled it up quite a bit, estimating that the wingspan would be around three feet when it was finalized. The stuffing for the body and antennae is polyfill, and the wings have a single layer of white flannel inside, instead of using batting. Rather than using two different fabrics, I used greener portions of the fabric for the undersides of the wings and bluer portions for the tops of the wings, the body, and the antennae. I used a pretty pliable gauge of jewelry wire to give the wings some structure and to add stability to the antennae. It makes a lovely decoration for the side of my fridge, with a final wingspan of 37.5 inches from wingtip to wingtip, and a body plus antennae length of 21 inches.  While I think I prefer clothes-making to plushies, I had a great time with this and might make some plushies of a smaller size in the future. I love ge

I've had several days of steady progress on the moth. The lower wings have wire frames around the edges, small magnets in the wing tips, and topstitching for the wing veins. I'm mostly done adding the magnets to the upper wings, but I still have a few to go. I want the final moth to be able to hang out on the fridge (hence the magnets), so one of the images is from when I tested whether the magnets could hold a wing on the fridge. Pattern by  BeeZeeArt .