The pants-free adventure continues

I have received inquiries as to whether I am still adhering to the Skirts Only rule.

The answer is yes!

How long has it been now? Maybe a month? For the most part I have been having fun with it. I cannot resist a game. That was a problem back in Lent because I was treating this fast I was on as a game, and I kept trying to look for ways to make it easier while still sticking to the rules. Finally I had to tell myself, Uh, Mary? The point of this fast is not to outsmart it!

But that was the only way I could stick with it!

Anyway, this skirt thing. I am going the extra mile and wearing only floor-length skirts because that was what was suggested and without that it would be too easy because I was never really a pants person to begin with.

There is also the matter of the sleeves. Again, it is not as if we are bound by this at church or anything, but the suggestion was for sleeves to be elbow length.

For the first two weeks or so I just used what was in my closet. I combined things different ways. And it was fun because I wore things I had never worn. Two dresses in particular that I had never worn before became staples of my wardrobe. One is a pink Izod cotton maxi and the other is a loose ivory-colored rayon sleeveless gown by All That Jazz.

The problem with both of those dresses had been, they were too skimpy to wear out for most occasions, probably for any occasions, now that I think about it. Yet it had never occurred to me to wear anything over them. Until now! Now, I needed all hands on deck, and these dresses, not being polyester, were called into play.

Now, they are out and about! So are these cotton halter dresses I have. I have always loved these dresses and now they have a new look worn under an array of lacy tops and cotton shirts and jackets.

After about two weeks though I could see I needed some stuff, mostly in the sleeves department because that is a bigger challenge than the skirt. If anything would make me give this up it would be the sleeves rule, because in the heat it is no joke, and also I love going sleeveless. It just feels so good.

But I went shopping and that helped. Shopping always helps. I went to Amvets and Goodwill and acquired a range of loose cotton tops for this heat wave we are in. Oh! And I went to Salvation Army and I struck gold with some gorgeous colorful light vintage cotton shirts from Buffalo's own Chain's India Boutique. I wear them a lot with the Izod and the All That Jazz dresses. Score!

Today at Amvets I found a cotton flowered jacket from Spain. It is like wearing a cloud.

I will have to photograph and post pictures of these items. Meanwhile... good news!

Since I have done this, not only have I suffered no sunburn, I have received a ton of compliments!

Strangers have asked me where I shop!

I went and drew the Tall Ships on the Buffalo waterfront ,,, this is one ...

... and I was in one of those long white flowered halter dresses and one of my cotton white smocks and a straw hat -- and people thought I was part of the show! I guess I looked vaguely 19th century.

A passer-by took this snapshot of me.

And as I stood there sketching, folks treated me like this celebrity. The crew of the Nova Scotia ship invited me on board. I was in this daze. I had never foreseen any of that happening. I had simply been hoping to get in some good drawings.

Would any of this had happened were I wearing shorts, as I think I would have a few weeks ago? Or even a shorter skirt? I am not sure.

But one thing I am pretty sure of.

I am going to stick with this!

Goodbye, jeans! Hello, cocktails

I made my first pants re-use item. Remember, I am ceasing to wear pants, and so I was going to upcycle all my old pants and shorts. I do not exactly have sewing skills so finding an initial project was a challenge. But I did it!

I made a Denim Ice Crushing Bag. The inspiration came from online. From the site The Kitchn.

The recipe required a minimum of sewing which, any normal person would use a sewing machine, but I could not get either of my sewing machines to start, so I hand-sewed it. That is my handiwork up above.

I sewed it out on the porch, in my long dress. I felt a little nostalgic, I have to say, cutting up these old jeans. They were vintage Calvin Kleins and they had been with me a long time and let me tell you this, they fit me again after all these years, and I looked pretty good in them, too. But they were ripped -- naturally and unfortunately, not on purpose the way all these fake ripped jeans are. I am really not a ripped jeans person. Plus I am hereafter not wearing pants. So, goodbye jeans.

Hello ice crushing bag!

Do read the little writeup on the Kitchn. It is funny. Plus the bag was a present. I gave it to the priest who advised that we stop wearing pants. A bunch of us gals got together and decided we would give him something made out of our now-cast-off garments. We have been laughing and laughing over it. The challenge in this situation, of course, is to find some craft that is not girly. Googling around you can find a million things to make out of your old jeans but most of them are girly.

My friend Amy made the priest a beer caddy. Well, her daughter sewed it. They are amazing and my ice-crushing bag had nothing on the beer caddy. The beer caddy even came with a Buffalo bottle opener! They fitted it out with one.

Impressive as the beer caddy is, I think the ice crushing bag should prove extremely useful.

I am going to make myself one! Out of the other leg.

Cheers!

The pants reuse project

At Mass today we were advised that it is better if ladies not wear pants. They are unfeminine. They lead to various ills.

End result, as we say here in Buffalo, I have a couple of boxes' worth of pants and jeans I need to reuse.

This is not the end of the world for me, far from it. I only wear pants about once a year anyway. For some other ladies it is a much greater sacrifice.

But for some reason I have ended up with a lot of pants. I just took a whole bunch of them to Amvets last week because I got skinny enough for them to fit me, only to realize that I did not like how they looked. I hate when that happens!

I am not in love with jeans because I find them hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Plus I just have problems wearing pants. I do not have things that go with them. I have trouble putting an outfit together involving them. Now, take away my maxidresses, and we would have a problem. But as things are, I can live with this.

The only question facing me is, what to do with these pants? I cannot exactly throw them out.

And so I have come up with a catalog of things I want to make with them.

One is rag curtains, for my back porch.

You can get away with stuff out on a porch that would look really weird inside the house! So that is where my new rag curtains will go.

And there is that awesome wine bag at the top of this post that I found in this list of crafts you can make from jeans.

People make this unbelievably professional-looking things. I need something simple because I have a lot of other things going on.

However another thing on my list is an artist's bag. I will have to invent this because I have not found a picture of one. There are tote bag ideas out there I can adapt.

So ... curtains, wine bag, artist's bag. Also I want a sketchbook cover. I can craft that to match my artist's bag.

It is going to be no picnic at first to start cutting up my pants. But once I get going I will be all right with it. Other gals at church are going through the same thing. We are thinking we will have a contest for the best reuse.

Cushions are a no-brainer. I can use those on the porch.

Those two look a little advanced for me but I can manage something. Howard gave me a sewing machine once and we also have a dandy ornate early 20th century Singer.

I am thinking of making the porch a theme of this project. I need to furnish it somehow now that it is all renovated and ready to go.

Oh! And a bulletin board. You can cover some kind of board with the fabric from your pants.

Jeoffry has no problem re-purposing a pair of shorts.

One way or another I, too, will make use of these garments.

I cannot part with them!