Collar Bones & Comfort

Too low. Too low. Too low. I tried them all on and - one after another - every t-shirt went into the goodwill pile. Why last year's necklines were so ridiculously low, I have no idea. I felt far too bare most of the summer and this year, they'd have been positively indecent. It wasn't just a little cleavage. It was full on exposure. Apparently, my chest is next in this weight loss series. I got up yesterday and noted collar bones for the first time in a long time. I'm sure they've always been there - LOL - but yesterday, they were visibly there. Sigh - my sewing is definitely NOT keeping up. Good thing t-shirts are relatively quick and easy.

My friend Francine phoned Monday night all excited about a new shipment of skirts in at Reitmans. She went on and on about the comfort waist and how amazing it was, how truly comfortable, how not as old lady as it sounds since they're elastic waisted, pull up pants. That made me laugh because two years ago, when I started buying the comfort waist jeans, I know I told her about them. I told everyone because I thought - still think - they're fabulous. Maybe because she's teeny tiny, it didn't really register. Getting things over her hips while cinching into her waist while not creating excess bulk on the stomach wouldn't have appealed to her in the same way that it does me.

She was so excited that I stopped in after driving Kyle to work yesterday and came home with this light-weight, denim skirt. The fabric looks identical to some in the discount bin at Fabricland for $4.50 a meter. This skirt is $36.00. Obviously I can sew one way less expensively. That wasn't the point so I may or may not keep it. I bought it to measure it.

Reitmans sells an entire line of comfort waist clothing. When I asked the clerk about how popular it was, she said that's what everyone wants and that over two thirds of the store is now comfort waist. This waistline really is that wonderful only you need to buy the garment a size smaller than you think because everything comfort waist is also made out of stretch fabric. A size smaller - hmm... that sounds familiar. That's why I want to measure it and compare those findings to a similar skirt pattern. I know what size to buy in this waist. I want to know what size to sew.




Here's a detail of an older pair of jeans. All of the garments have this same yoked waistband front and back. They're all made of a stretch fabric although the degree of stretch varies. If you follow the grainlines, the yoke is cut on the same straight of grain as the rest of the garment which leads you to assume that the stretch factor is the total answer and last week - when I made a muslin without sewing in a zipper and pulled it up over my hips no problem - I thought that was it however, when I examined the waistband of that skirt at the store, it was far more obvious that there was something else in there. I wanted to know what.




I took apart the waist of an older pair of jeans. The facing is sewn to the garment with a 5/8" seam allowance. When the seam allowance is edge stitched to the facing, a narrow piece of elastic is inserted with slight stretch. That's it - the magic bullet.

The elastic is clear and 1/4" wide. I'm not sure if any elastic would do. This one seems firmer and stronger than most - like plastic. I Googled clear elastic and came up with transparent elastic and the information that it is strong even when nicked, is used predominately in action wear, and must be stitched through to retain it's shape. That matches how it's used. Now to buy some - LOL.

Today, the plan is to baste the pants together so I can wear them around the house for a bit before deciding on any permanent seams. Although I can, I really don't like to alter a garment again after I thought it was finished. Like Monday's jeans. Other than that, I have a few errands to do this morning and Kyle needs to go for his monthly blood test. Sometime today I need to clean house. Tomorrow, I'm getting my hair cut. YEAH - it needs it.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - learning the "secret" of comfort waist

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Personal Growth - The right word at the right time is like a custom made piece of jewelry, and a wise friend's timely reprimand is like a gold ring slipped on your finger. Reliable friends who do what they say are like cook drinks in sweltering heat - refreshing. - Proverbs 25

The article A Reason A Season Or A Lifetime talks about friendship in three forms and about how lifetime relationships are there to teach us a lifetime of lessons, the things that we can build on to have a solid emotional foundation.

Life time friends are extremely rare. Stats say that we'll be lucky to have two or three. Reality is that all relationships are tested in some way and it is only if they make it to the other side of that testing that there is the possibility this relationship will last a lifetime - except it takes a lifetime to know. I'm sure that you've had - just as I've had - friends disappear from your life that you thought would be around longer. That hurts.

Even when you are a lifetime kind of friend, the person to whom you have given your friendship may not accept it for a lifetime. They may walk away at some point when you were completely not expecting it. Relationships are extremely important to me so that happens to me more often than I'd like. An interesting question that I've been pondering lately is how to give and receive quality friendship in a healthy way while being more in the moment. Living without expectations is incredibly difficult to do.