fitzfabulous

Not sewing as much as usual - work has heated up with a giant Freedom of Information project. I love the FOIA and the 1st Amendment and open government as reporter tools, and have wanted to conduct such an audit for a long time. So that’s good news. But here’s why editors wouldn’t let me do it before - it’s incredibly time consuming keeping track of so many document requests. More to come as Sunshine Week approaches.
That having been said, I have managed to straighten some pants, which is easy to do just because it can be done one small step at a time.

• Sliced the boot cut off dark denim pants inherited from my sister
• Un-booted gray cords I wear practically as reporter uniform
• Tightened up a gorgeous pair of vintage Bill Blass jeans
• Tried to taper the bells on these thrifted muddy pink cords because the waist construction is stunning and very solidly done.

So they’re pink, I know, after I just whined about stupid pink. (What’s with all the best thrift store stuff being pink?) But they are of such quality that I thought I’d try out dyeing on them since they were $1. Will try gray or brown or black. Nothing crazy.

The beauty of this work is that it can be done in pieces. Short attention spans welcome. Got 10 minutes to sew? You too can straighten pants. Click here for the step-by-step.

Posted and reposted on ebay today during the fee sale. Few sweater dresses too fabulous to go unworn, and cute, cute thrifted dresses that just aren’t me. I’m having doubts about selling this one — can’t say I wear a lot of shirtdresses, but this one comes with a lot of cheek:

Last time I sold a batch of stuff, these poor little thrifted Bill Blass jeans piped in white were left over. They wanted to be worn by me, with their dark, dark color and fabulous trim details of silver tags and embroidery, but they were just sloppy long and the legs were too big. Just begged to be retooled. Thanks to pop’s serger, I now wear ‘em proud.

So I guess ebay will decide whether the red dress sells or goes back into the closet to await spring weather.