Women with thighs...

What do women do in summer if you have the opposite of thigh gap... politely maybe referred to as muscular thighs or pears?  I don't think there is a good name for women with thighs, but I do know that we suffer in summer.  I adore wearing frocks in Summer.  They are cool and floaty and make for an easy choice when getting dressed in the morning.  However with this current humid warm summer days we are having, I find wearing frocks not so appealing due to the dreaded rub.  I have looked for a number of solutions, but the one I have been most happy with is with "slip shorts".  Shorts made from soft, comfortable, breathable natural fibres to wear under your frock.

I have started making these for myself after finding they are difficult to source in Australia.  I base them on a pattern for compression shorts, sizing up a bit to take away the compression aspect.  I want these pants to be comfortable, no compression or sucking in.  These are not meant to act like spanx.

I made one trial pair with a fabric remnant and since then I have been so taken with these pants that I am making them for my Etsy shop.  So far I have had excellent feedback from my customers who have tried them.

Now I know you sewists can make your own, but if you would rather buy them please feel free to stop by my shop susysewandsew.etsy.com and check them out.  You can find them all here - slip shorts.

These shorts are also lovely to sleep in and if you are an active person or chasing kids around a playground they provide an element of modesty.  As I use pretty lace on the hems, I think they look very pretty and feminine if your skirt does fly up, like a pretty slip would.  I am planning to make some soon without the lace to see how they go, as not every one is a lace fan like me.

I have at the moment listed classic black, a fun terracotta and a few in ivory.  Soon I will be adding a really pretty soft pink and a nude, so keep an eye out for those.

I have lots of names for these... slip shorts, pettipants, petticoat pants... what would you call them?  Would you wear them?

Sewing pattern weights

I have been wanting to make some sewing pattern weights for myself for ages and have just got around to it.  They are used instead of pins to hold your pattern in place on your fabric so that you can trace or cut around your pattern.  

The advantage of using pattern weights over pins are :

• there is less distortion of the fabric and
• they are quicker and easier to use than pins.

I used this tutorial to get started but did tweak it a little.  I made some sets at the size suggested in the tutorial, but decided to make some slightly larger and prefer the larger size. However a mix of sizes and weights could be very useful.

You can use rice or dried beans, kitty litter, sand or aquarium gravel to fill them, but I wanted a clean fill with no dust.  I ended up using doll stuffing pellets and lead weights (sinkers, lead pellets, etc).  You can then adjust the weight to whatever you prefer.

If you are not keen on making your own pattern weights or are looking for a gift for a sewing friend, you can find sets of pattern weights in my shop.

Do you use pattern weights?  What do you like about them?  Ciao for now kittens!

Summer top ... Vogue 9109

I made this top about two months ago but getting the photos is always the hard part.  Finally snapped some while at work the other day.  Still not great, but better than no blog post.

Very Easy Vogue 9109 made in a rayon from Spotlight.  I bought this pattern from Spotlight when they had a buy 3 patterns for $x sale.  I liked the Tessuti Ruby and had planned to buy it, but I needed one more pattern to get the discount.

The pattern is an easy make.  The only alteration I made was to drop the bust dart about an inch.  I like these patterns made for different bust sizes, not much alteration is required if you choose the right size.  

Excuse the crumples.  These photos were taken at the office.  In a perfect blog world I would get the photos taken when I first put it on.  The odd thing is that in real life the crumples aren't that bad, but the camera seems to emphasize them.

The back neck slit was supposed to have a hook and eye but I prefer the look of a button and loop.  I made a sewn thread loop.  

In summary, a sweet top that isn't hard to make.  I don't think it has as much "swing" as the Ruby, but still a lovely style.  I like that I can wear it on the week-ends or to the office.  

Autumn is settling in now so it won't get worn a lot so it is probably good that I got my photos when I did.

I also have made some more zipper bags for my Etsy shop.  Mainly made from remnant fabrics, the black is a lovely cotton I made a shirt for my son.  I have attached a charm as a zipper pull.  This one says "Me vs Me".  It would be great for a gym bag.

The blue print linen is a remnant from a second Ottobre pieced linen dress which I don't seem to have blogged about (like this one).

I plan to blog again soon with a Stylearc Mariln dress I made to attend the Brisbane Spoolettes High Tea... Ciao kittens.  

Wrist wraps...

Hey guys,  You may have noticed I have changed my header to "Susy Sew and Sew"...  It is to keep it in line with my little Etsy shop.  I hope you don't mind the change.  :)

I wanted do something a little different in this post and instead of the usual show and tell I give you about my clothes sewing, I thought I would talk to you today about wrist wraps.   I never knew these things existed before I started Crossfit, so I thought you might be curious to know a bit more about them.   I use them in my training and I love the little bit of extra support they provide in all sorts of movements - lifting, body weight moves, gymnastics type moves, etc...

The wrap is basically a long rectangle of fabric with a tie at one end.

It can be loosened or tightened by simply twisting the wrap toward or away from the tie.   There are plenty of youtube clips to show you how to put them on and tighten them, like this one.   I love that even if they are loose in the middle of a workout, they can be quickly tightened to give some support when you need it.

If you want to make your own wraps there are tutorials on line as well.  This is similar to how I made mine -  wrist wrap tutorial.   They would make a great gift for any Crossfitters in your life, but I do have some available in my shop if your not keen to make your own.  Yep I love them so much I had to make more...