On my way to the Expo with my Discover Something Novel Pants and Vest

We're packing up to drive down to Atlanta this rainy day.    I finished the vest yesterday but with my DAR meeting and then physical therapy in the afternoon, I was just too tired and it was too dark to take photos.    I hope to see some of my friends at the Gwinnett Center tomorrow.   Please stop and say hello if you see me on the Expo floor with my husband and my walker.

I haven't sewn a pair of pants since last summer so this pair from Louise Cutting's newest pattern were the first.    I compared the fit of the Easy Ageless Cool pant that I sewed four pair of, and used the size small with 1" removed.    They have approx 4 inches of ease which is what I like.   Louise's pant draft definitely has the elegant fit without the excessive amount of ease that shouts "clown pants".    Better to see the garments on a real person vs the hanger.    

I chose a stretch silk seersucker from Michaels Fabrics in a neutral tan for the pant.    It has a nice hand for this sort of pant.  BTW, this is the same fabric I used for a tunic from Louise's Stars in Heaven pattern.     It took me one day's session to check the fit,  prepare the pattern and cut the pants out, so then I sewed them up the next day.    It's hard for me to stand at my cutting table for the time it takes to lay out and cut a pattern, so I have to break it up.     The numbness from the destroyed nerves in my legs,  and lack of muscle control in my feet makes it difficult, but not impossible to control the foot pedals of the machines.   The only problem I had was being able to feel the elastic in the casing so it wasn't twisted, and be able to pull it through since I have problems with sensation and don't have a lot of strength in my fingers.    I can do it, but it just takes me longer than it used to these days.  In the photo above, my hand is on my bookcase for support, not just the pose.

I used a cotton fabric with a brushstroke for the vest, using both grains of the fabric and motifs.    Since the lower bands and collar are rectangles, I just measured, clipped and tore the fabric pieces for those.   I then decided the placement of the backs and the front sections, and cut them out.    Doing it that way made for very little fabric thrown away, and tearing is easier for me than cutting.

When he took the photos, my husband paid these two new pieces the ultimate complement, saying they look very "Saks Fifth Avenue".

More photos on the Discover Something Novel Flickr Set.