Are you a member of the "I Hate Tights" club?

In my quest to be warm, I have upgraded my wardrobe a bit this winter. I have purchased nice, thick, tights. They're warm and cozy and can be worn with pants or skirts/dresses. I've got them in black and brown. (Boring, but I had to start somewhere.) Then I discovered something: I hate them.

I am 5'4" which is on the line between regular and petite. Back in my thin days, I lived in Florida and didn't wear tights. Now I'm decidedly NOT thin and tights are a nightmare! They're a one size deal which means that there's always more material than leg for me. I don't have much of a rear (I may have been born without one), so that means there's not much help to keep the tights up in that department. The part, though, that really gets my tights in a wad is, well, that my tights get into a wad! Somehow the feet direction don't match by the time you get to the thighs and they're all twisted and uncomfortable.

This morning I decided to take action. Surely there must be a way to turn tights into thigh-highs. I did a search and came upon this tutorial: How to Stockings from Tights. On top of that find, I discovered that I'm enjoying the rest of her blog. The title alone is inspiring--Down With Clutter.

I WILL be making some stockings. My concern is they won't stay up, so I may end up going the garter direction if I have to. But only if I have to!

(ETA: I dashed off after posting this to remodel my brown tights--I sacrificed them to this experiment. Well, they don't stay up if you just turn and sew them. I'm going to add some elastic and see if that helps. My upper legs are bare which is a little discomfitting. It was nice, however, not having to do the full adjustment when I visited the powder room!)

Wednesday: Sewing Day

I must say that examining the "Days of the Week" chore poem has been an eye-opener for me. I have gotten some revelation about the details of caring for my home that have eluded me until now. One of those gems has to do with sewing.

I have always sort of figured that the "Sewing Day" of the poem meant darning, mending, quilting, etc.. As I began to ponder it, though, I realized that the ladies of the past were doing darning and mending, etc. ALL the time. If they were sitting, there was some sort of needlework in their hands. That made me think about what having a dedicated day for sewing could have been. I realized that clothing CONSTRUCTION would have been an ongoing process as well due to the lack of the mall. Since it was a larger task (involving pattern making, cutting, piecing, fitting, and then sewing and finishing), then a chunk of time needed to be set aside.

Here's where personal revelation part came in: I have projects up the wazoo that have never been started. I have the material, the pattern, and the dream. There are also projects that managed to get themselves begun, but never finished. Could having a dedicated chunk of time each week for sewing be the answer?

I tested my theory. Last Wednesday as I was finally finishing up swapping my son's room from upstairs to the first floor (click HERE to see the post about that), I decided to honor the poem and go ahead and make the window curtain and stage curtain for his room, too.

Glory be! It happened. A project was finished very shortly after I envisioned it! Son's room is a "wild kingdom" theme with zebras being the special focus. Below is his loft bed with a zebra theater curtain. I even got fancy and made the rod pocket out of leopard!



The rest of the leopard was put to work as window curtains. The tiebacks? Zebra, of course.

With this new-found understanding of "Sewing Day," I predict that I may be posting more about FINISHED projects!

Do you have UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) lurking in the recesses of your home? Do you have plans for fabric that have gotten you only as far as storing the fabric? Incorporate "Sewing Day!" I believe it just might work for me!

Next time: Market Day

Click HERE for all the days.

Two birds with one sewing machine

This week my "Beautify" focus areas are the upstairs bathroom and the basement pantry.

We're going to start on the bathroom tonight, but during the day I tackled that pantry.

It needed a good cleaning and many things needed to be returned to their proper places. After that, I glanced at this monstrosity:



I've posted a picture of this area before, but I chose to crop it creatively as in completely doing away with the upper area!:




(There's a lesson about perspective somewhere in all of this.) Anyway, I decided it was time to do something about it. My husband originally wanted to make sliding doors there, painted white. We haven't gotten around to that, so I thought I'd create a temporary option. (We'll eventually do those doors.)


I also wanted to keep with my decision to "Beautify" as thriftily as possible. I had this green gingham fabric that was originally supposed to be the rocking chair cushion covers in my son's baby nursery. My SEVEN year old son. Obviously I never got around to it. (I was working. I had already done nurseries for two friends. I was in denial that a baby was actually going to be there soon...excuse, excuse.)


I quickly hemmed the edges and sewed a rod pocket into the two sections. NOW I have something nicer to look at than all those ugly wires!





My first thrifty sewing/decorating project is complete!