4.17.2011

sew weekly sunday: my mom is prettier than your mom

well, hello again. come on in. have a tall glass of iced tea. i'll make it a long island if you want. 


speaking of coma inducing drinks named after american isles, a very special hello to my peeps in the US of A! hey folks! how's it goin'? relaxing sunday? ADMIT IT! you are spending every last second of this weekend frantically finishing your taxes! i cannot imagine what you are going through, as i just skipped over to the local PO saturday morning and mailed our taxes off, without incident. i mean, there was a mildly annoying dude in line on his phone, blathering about what the contingency plan would be were it to rain on the day in cellular question. dude, just live. if it rains, you'll get wet. your taxes are done.

for the childhood challenge over at le sew weekly, i pored over tiny oona photos carefully scanned and copied by my dad, presented in an album by the parental balloonas as a birthday prize last year. i pretty much demanded this gift, so i wasn't surprised, but i WAS surprised they did it. balloonas don't take well to demands.

are you surprised i wanted pictures of myself for my birthday? no? GOOD. my self-involved air of brattiness is coming along nicely. allow me to add to said air.  i'm sorry, but how pretty is my mom?




i did not find inspiration in the copious unbearably cute polaroids of myself. no, i was most inspired by this shot of my mom. as a wee kalkatroonan, i remember staring at it in awe. it looked like the golden sunlight was coming right out of her gorgeous smile. i wanted to be her. she was so stylish and graceful and pretty sitting up there. and still very much is. pretty, that is. she's come down from the tree.

armed with my maternal inspiration, i decided it was time to successfully tackle my first pair of wear-outdoors pants. i've tried before, but have always emerged beaten. badly. 

although mom's in white & khaki here, she's always in bold color & print. so i decided to play with the sepia tones in the photo, but use a wild print in homage.


i had all intentions of dragging ruggy to the park today and finding a tree, but after three days of soaking the couch in various liquids, we decided to lounge around the house instead. so you get a window and the fancy little sepia button on my rinky dink canon.

mom might be glowing because dad was the one behind the camera. here's what happens to me when ruggy pulls the trigger:



guess what i did. no, seriously, guess what i did, because i sure as hell couldn't repeat it if i tried. i made amy butler's wide leg lounge pants as a jumping off point, because where better to start for wear-outdoors pants than wear-indoors pajama pants pattern? elementary.


added length to pattern waist and hem, played with the side seams, took the center back in, added back darts, a side invisible zip, cut some of the waist off, made up a buttoned waist band closure-- oh wait, i'm sorry, did i say button closure? i meant FULLY FRIGGING FUNCTIONAL BUTTON CLOSURE.


that's right, folks. and i didn't go through the unmitigated torture of a hand bound buttonhole. or even try to futz with the crippled buttonhole function on my kenmore. nope, i remembered a little trick i saw in a vintage simplicity pattern involving an opening for a wrap skirt, and i applied it here.

i rock.

oh yeah, and my dad could totally beat your dad's ass.



fabric: linen, three yards, $15 total
patterns: amy butler's lounge pants, vintage simplicity 7910 (skirt band instructions only) and a whole lotta my head.
year: 70s to present
notions: invisible zip $1, cotton thread (stash), plastic buttons (stash)
time to complete: about twelve hours altogether. what with Cat One and Cat Two, this one was a doozy.
first worn: in the future, to see our favorite jazz trio next week!
wear again: hells yeah.
total cost: $16

24 comments:

  1. i love the way
    you make me smile
    every time i read one of your posts
    ..
    so
    i'm sitting with this silly grin
    on my face
    and this grin of mine
    is getting even bigger
    thanks to some silly music
    from corean movie
    that is on my tv right now
    from some unknown reason

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  2. You and your mum are both soooo pretteeee! You must have got your curls from your dad?

    I have been hanging out for pics of the pants since your last post. You did NOT disappoint! I love the fabric and they are awesome styled with the white shirt. And again, you and Ruggy are putting that camera through its paces, I am LOVING your shoots!

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  3. Yo' Mumma is most certainly a babe, and pretty darn stylin'. Oh... and I'll take a long island thanks! xx

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  4. love Love LOVE!!! Those pants are nothing short of FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! I also love the button closure - brilliant! This may be my favorite thing you have made so far, and I have to say - you've got the most gorgeous, happy smile in these pictures! Excellent work, girlfriend.

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  5. This entire post is one big win.

    I lurve it all. Esp the pants with the crisp white shirt.

    Also, I NEED your mom's shoes.

    You have such a pretty family, all of y'all. Blessings.

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  6. Your mom is very pretty indeed, but I'll keep mine, thank you very much.

    Great work there, and congratulations on your first pair of outdoor indoor pants!

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  7. Oh Oona! I almost feel like challenging you to make something that doesn't rock from hem to collar! But then again, I know better than to challenge you. Or your dad, or your mom. Sorry I even said that. You rock. Ok?

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  8. again, awesome! I work in a sewing lounge and there was a girl in yesterday working on those same lounge pants!

    Love the waistband - and you totally hit the vibe of your balloona-spiration!

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  9. pants are supercool- love the pattern, love the print, want want want! (for quite some time I've been dreaming of wide leg pants so I guess I'm getting used to it.) Both gorgeous you and gorgeous mom are so lucky to have had pics taken by the lucky men in your life- therefore the genuine smiles and other expressions- unfortunately after I made it official that I am capable of taking my own pictures I haven't had any other offers to choose from, they simply dissipated! (or they never existed)*sigh* I know, I should have posed helpless...

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  10. Love those pants Oona! And you're right, your mom is incredibly stylish. :)

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  11. ✎ mokosha: grinning right back at you, poetess.

    ✎ eleanna &
    ✎ charlotte &
    ✎ hana &
    ✎ ashley:
    thanks very much from me, and from mom i'm sure :)

    ✎ meg: thank you! if you didn't notice, i am over the moon proud about those damn buttons.

    ✎ emilykate: i hope big daddy reads this to get a laugh... actually my nan (dad's side) had a mass of curl, so that makes sense... ruggy was playing call of duty and heard me grumble so he hopped behind the lens :)

    ✎ reana-louise: i make them QUITE strong.

    ✎ saro: i totally stole the white shirt pairing from le classy momma. wish she still had the shoes, i'd steal them too.

    ✎ katja: you dare to challenge ALL of the balloonas?!!!

    ✎ magda: just whimper a bit in his general vicinity, it worked for me.

    ✎ patty: really? did she fit the waist or have them loose?

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  12. these totally rock my friggin world!!!!

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  13. your writing rocks my world. and your mom is lovely, as are you!

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  14. thankya trish & trina! y'all could make up a countyy western singing duo. if you do, i so want a finder's fee.

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  15. Wow, you are totally rocking those pants! They remind me of the pants pattern I used for the SW UFO challenge, except I nixed the empire waist part and lowered it to my natural waist. Now I see what they would look like if I had kept the original design! Hmm, now I'm wondering if I should try to make a pair of lounge pants with my pattern :)

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  16. Those pants are so fabulous and 70s and you absolutely rock them. I'm very jealous.

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  17. *** amanda: i went and visited your rocking pants, i hope you go for a high waisted version! selfishly, of course, because i know when i see yours, i'll have to buy the pattern.

    *** lisette: i do so love the 70s. just make a pair of pjs and futz till you have them!

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  18. wait. how did I miss this post! O my friggin god...these pants are AMAZING!!! You look so awesome in them and I love the sepia toned picture! In fact, I think I might be slightly jealous...hmmm...where is that bottle of wine ;)

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  19. O.M.G! Those pants are TDF! Must. Make. Them. MIne.
    Angela
    BTW-Your post always bring a smile to my face. They have saved the lives of my office mates on many occasions. LOL

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  20. yes! WINE, debi, WINE!!!

    and riange, i hope i can save you when office mates WHINE, riange, WHINE!!!

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  21. I so love what you have done with these pants - love the waist line and the pattern - so retro, yet very new feeling as well. Trying to make a pair for myself - so if you ever get around to making a pattern... Your beautiful Mama would be proud!

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  22. Oona, you are the cutest lady ever. And these are the cutest pants ever.

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i thankya truly for taking the time to comment, i love a good conversation-- and hope you know my thanks are always implied, if not always written!