Orange Linen Pants

I've been wanting wide-leg pants for a while, but I loathe pants shopping. I knew I would sew some wide-leg pants eventually, but I was held back by the complicated fitting and finding the right fabric weight.

But then my sister showed up to our (socially distanced!) backyard firepit fun wearing flowy black linen pants and that is exactly the right outfit on a muggy evening when the mosquitos are out. I actually started down the online pants shopping path until it occurred to me that these are not fitted pants: they are essentially pajama pants and I have made lots of pajama pants!

I found this heavy, soft orange linen in my stash; it was enough for a dress, but orange is not a color I wear next to my face.

I used my standard pajama pants pattern, modifying the crotch to be higher and cutting the legs to fall straight and wide instead of taper.  I added patch pockets and a paper bag waist, using a casing of bias tape inside. The drawstring has 20" of elastic for comfort. I also finished the hems with orange bias tape because they were just the right length and proper length pants are so important.

These photos were taken by my husband on a (socially distanced!) beach family getaway.

 The beach in the evening means fewer people, no sunscreen, fabulous light, and (ugh) biting flies. The pants kept my legs protected - my husband, wearing shorts, spent a lot of time whacking flies off his legs with my flip flops. 

I'm  really happy with these pants! I plan to wear them with tops of all colors.

Are you wearing wide-leg (public pajama) pants? Do tell!

Swedish Summer Pillow

We are fine. We are coping.  My silence on the blog is just due to underlying pandemic stress sapping my energy (amen?).

Due to some people in this house whacking each other with the living room throw pillows, I needed to replace a pillow cover.  I have a pillow cover for hot weather and one for cold weather.  That is about as seasonal as my decorating gets! They ruined the hot weather cover.

I made a pillow cover of reds and greens, with the colors lightening up into the middle of the pillow.  Normally I love the surprise of patchwork, but this time, the results lacked the gravitas I wanted in the living room.  It looked like a little girl's bedroom to me, and I could not unsee it.

I kept turning this problem over in my mind at odd moments, poking through my fabric stash at other odd moments, and then I came up this red striped fabric and doily. No patchwork this time!

Ah, now this fits my vision of a summer I want to have: a little cottage by a lake, with tall trees and wildflowers and blue pitchers of milk, whitewashed walls in the sunshine, and a rocker creaking on the porch. Probably I would be alone. I love my people dearly and am very grateful for the community support we give and get. . . .but oh, my, I am a little fried from my people home all the time.