Why I wrote a book about privacy for 4-to-6-year-olds

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I am ridiculously excited about my latest project: a children’s picture book about privacy called Privacy, Please! You can check it out and order a copy at privacypleasebook.com.

The idea for the book

Let me tell you about how this book came to be…. I decided to write this book about a year ago, in Fall 2024. The Privacy Engineering masters program at CMU was planning an International Data Privacy Day 2025 event at the Carnegie Library in Oakland, and I asked the librarians if I could read privacy books to kids during a preschool story time. The librarians agreed, but did not have any suggestions for privacy-related picture books to read. They suggested a book on limiting screen time, and I found some books on bodily privacy and other very narrow aspects of privacy. I suggested a story for 7-12 year olds about the harms of surveillance, The Eyemonger, written by privacy law scholar Daniel J. Solove. The librarians thought it would be too long and too scary for preschoolers. I reached out to Dan and other privacy professionals in search of a book on privacy four younger children. But nobody had any good suggestions.

Back in 2014, I had worked on a project in which I asked people to draw pictures of what privacy means to them. I visited schools and community events, asked my friends, and even bought some drawings from crowd workers. I built a website called Privacy Illustrated that now has hundreds of these drawings. A few years later, my students systematically analyzed the drawings and wrote a research paper about the trends they observed. I’ve tagged the Privacy Illustrated drawings with some metadata about their content and the age of the artists. So while I was pondering picture books about privacy, I took a look at the drawings from some of our youngest contributors to see what privacy meant to them.

Kindergarten students with their drawings of privacy at CMU Children’s School

I saw drawings of young children in their rooms, snuggled under blankets, hiding from their siblings, playing with friends in a private space, and enjoying privacy in the bathroom (interestingly, many adults also drew bathroom pictures!). I saw that privacy was a concept that young children seem to begin to understand in preschool, and I wanted to write a book to help them make sense of it.

As a parent of three (now young adult) kids, I’ve also observed that young children sometimes need a “time out” and that they can benefit from some private time to themselves. Giving them the words to ask for privacy rather than waiting for it to be imposed on them can be helpful. I’m hoping that the examples of how the characters in the book achieve privacy can stimulate discussion between children and adults and help young children find appropriate ways to achieve privacy in their own lives. I also hope that the adults reading this book to children will find something to take away from it!

As a privacy researcher who often focuses on online privacy issues, I thought about including these in the book. However, I realized that young children have limited online interactions, so I was tempted to leave online issues out altogether. But I also realized that some mention of online privacy issues could help prepare children for going online, and it could be useful in educating the adults in their lives to think about online privacy issues. In the end, I touch only lightly on online privacy, but in ways that I hope will be relatable to young children and that may lead to more conversations as children grow.

Workshopping early drafts

I wrote the text for a first draft of a book in which a young narrator talks about privacy at home, at school, and out in the world. I found images from the Privacy Illustrated collection to illustrate some of the pages, and then tried using some generative AI tools to fill in what was missing. I quickly realized that to get the sort of look and feel I was after, I would need to hire an illustrator, but the images that I had were useful as a placeholder to start getting some initial feedback on my draft. I showed my draft to my young adult children and other family members and they were all enthusiastic about it. I shared the draft with some friends who have young children, and even borrowed a couple of children to read it to, and reviews were positive.

I printed out my book draft and put it in a loose-leaf binder to read on Privacy Day at the library. I also brought The Eyemonger to read. The children and parents enjoyed both books. I discovered that preschoolers will sit through The Eyemonger, and those I read to did not find it scary at all. While the adults thought the character who looks like a dinosaur with 1000 eyes was rather creepy, my young audience thought he was kind of cool. That said, I think the older kids learned more from the Eyemonger book than the younger ones, and they seemed to be pretty engaged with my book. The parents I talked with were all very impressed with my book and encouraged me to finish it and get it published. The kids seemed to like my book, and seemed to especially like the animals in the book. But one child told me it wasn’t a real book because it didn’t have a properly illustrated cover. I decided to keep working on it and turn it into a “real book.”

Lorrie Cranor reading an early draft of Privacy Please at the Carnegie Library in Oakland
Here I am reading an early draft of Privacy Please to children and parents at the Carnegie Library in Oakland.

I reached out to the Carnegie Mellon Children’s School (the lab school at CMU where my three kids all attended preschool and kindergarten) and asked if I could workshop my book with their educators. They agreed, and I was delighted to spend an hour with them a few weeks later. The teachers gave me some great feedback about the flow of the story. They suggested adding some specific phrases children could say to ask for privacy. And they reminded me that young children are limited in the amount of privacy they can realistically achieve because they are almost constantly under adult supervision. This is especially true in preschools, which often don’t have bathroom doors. The teachers shared some of their approaches to offering privacy to children while still being able to supervise them. I made substantial revisions to the book after my session at the Children’s School.

I made several other changes to the book based on feedback from multiple people. I shortened it a bit, reducing three outdoor privacy scenarios to one, removing a page about parents wrapping gifts in private, and tightening up some of the wording. In early drafts, the protagonist’s dog finds privacy in a dog house, but a friend pointed out that these days, dogs are more likely to find privacy under beds, so I updated the book accordingly. I originally included a page about superheroes going into phone booths to put on their costumes, but today’s kids have never seen a phone booth, and apparently, superheroes can now put on their costumes at the touch of a button. Nonetheless, I just couldn’t let the superhero costume concept go, as it was inspired by an adorable drawing from a five-year-old who explained that Spiderman needs privacy to put his costume on. In the final version the protagonist, who wears a purple cape throughout the book, hides in a closet to change into a superhero costume.

A kindergartener drew this picture in 2014 and explained, “Spiderman needs privacy to hut his costume on.”

Bold and buttery

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Pattern Emporium Walk Boldly pants with modified yoga waistband from PE Urban pants and jeans pockets with a straight diagonal opening from 2 yards black butter scuba, AU10, shortened 2 inches

I’ve made several pairs of mashed up Pattern Emporium Walk Boldly pants with modified yoga waistband from PE Urban pants, mostly for summer in light-weight LiKnit. When I heard about Mily Mae Fabric’s butter scuba I wanted to use if for some wide leg pants, but I didn’t manage to order any before it sold out. so when they restocked I grabbed some black butter scuba (and other colors too). The fabric is 50% Rayon/42% Poly/8% spandex with a decent amount of 4-way stretch. The right side of this fabric is brushed and has a soft, buttery feel. The wrong slide is smooth and a bit shiny.

When I cut out the fabric with my rotary cutter, it skipped in a few places and when I pulled the pieces apart, it created small runs. They’re hard to see but I know where they are, and next time I will be more careful and probably use a fresh rotary cutter blade. The runs did make me a bit concerned that the fabric could have a tendency to snag or pill, but I’ve washed it and worn the pants twice and so far so good.

I cut a size AU 10 with the waist graded in and shortened by 2 inches (and then hemmed 2 inches). I also lengthened the front and back crotch a tad. I added jeans-style pockets but instead of a curved pocket opening I cut the opening straight on a slight diagonal. The pocket openings sag a bit. I probably should have fused some interfacing to the top.

I cut the low-rise and made a contoured yoga-style waistband, effectively turning them into high-rise pants. I sewed 3/4-inch elastic at the top of the waistband between the layers and understitched it down. I used the scuba for both the inner and outer pieces. It is nice and soft with good recovery, but would not have been firm enough without the elastic (since I put stuff in my pockets and that tends to drag the waistband down). I might use a firmer athletic knit for the inner waistband in the future (as I have done on other pants).

These pants are very comfy to wear and have a nice drape: really nice dressy secret pajamas! They have a good weight to them without being overly warm or heavy, but warm enough to wear comfortably in ~40 degree F weather this week. I’m modeling them here with a PE Sweet Cheeks sweater in Versailles hacci sweater knit. I think they look good both tucked and untucked, and I’ve already worn them to work both ways.

Simply Alluring

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Pattern Emporium Allure Bell Sleeve Top with plain sleeves size AU10, Wanderlust high scoop neck, hem shortened 3.5 inches, sleeves shortened 1 inch, 1.5 yard of 43″-wide ginger-red wool jersey knit.

Size AU 10, screwp neck, sloped shoulder adjustment, hem shortened 3.5 inches, sleeves shortened 1 inch, <1 yard dusty olive cupro jersey.

Size AU 12, screwp neck, broad and sloped shoulder adjustment, hem shortened 3.5 inches, sleeves shortened 1 inch, <1 yard dusty olive cupro jersey.

I was quite pleased with my double-bell-sleeve Pattern Emporium Allure top, but wanted to try it with simple sleeves. The pattern comes with bonus plain sleeves that are slightly shaped for elbow curvature.

I have previously made quite a few long-sleeve knit shirts using the Sinclair Bondi pattern, which I like quite a bit and I think fits me really well (especially after I made a few minor adjustments). However, it is fairly fitted and I don’t think it works as well for fabric that doesn’t have a lot of 4-way stretch (although that hasn’t stopped me from using it with less stretchy fabrics, sizing up a size). For example, I noticed a lot of drag lines in the back when I used it with a low-stretch light-weight wool. Allure is semi-fitted, slightly less fitted than Bondi, so I thought it might work better for low-stretch jersey fabrics. When I put the two patterns on top of each other I could see that the Bondi size 6 and the Allure size AU10 are about equivalent. The Bondi is more fitted in the waist, flares out more at the hem, and is wider across the bust in the front. I normally make Bondi in size 4P, but size up to a 6P when using low-stretch fabric.

First, I made a plain-sleeve Allure in size AU10 from a lightweight 150 gsm, ginger-red hand-washable wool jersey knit fabric from Knitfabric.com. The fabric was advertised as having 25% stretch in each direction, but it seems to me it has more like 50% horizontal stretch and <25% vertical stretch. I used about a yard-and-a-half of 43″-wide fabric. I cut the hem about 3.5 inches shorter than the regular length, which is a good length on me for wearing a shirt untucked (which is mostly what I do), but long enough that I can tuck it in if I want to. I also did a sloped shoulder adjustment and shortened the sleeves by 1inch. I wanted a scoop neck, but knew from my previous Allure that I wanted it a little higher. So I used the front neck line from the Wanderlust dress high scoop neck and adjusted the size of the neckband accordingly. I hemmed the bottom and sleeves with a shallow zig zag stitch on my sewing machine after first folding and pressing it with knit stay tape.

I mostly liked the way this came out, but found the neckline still a little too low and wide in the front and too low in back for my taste. so for my next top, made from dusty olive cupro jersey from Surge Fabrics, I raised the front neckline about .75 inch and brought the sides in about .5 inch. I also brought the back neckline in about .5 inch and raised it to the same height as the back of the crewneck — similar to the “screwp neck” that I like with the Bondi pattern. I used less than a yard of 58″-wide fabric. This jersey cupro is 180gsm and advertised as having about 50% horizontal and 25% vertical stretch. The vertical stretch seems to me less than that. The fabric color is almost grey — the olive is very dusty. None of my green threads were a good match for this fabric so I ended up using steel grey. The curpo fabric is 65% modal and 35% poly and does not require any special care. It has a very silky feel. I coverstitched the hem, sleeves, and neckline with the steel grey thread.

The neckline came out exactly the way I wanted it on this one after I futzed with the length of the band (I basted it on, decided it was too tight, removed it and cut another one 1.5 inches bigger). But overall the top was too tight. I learned from past experience with a cupro jersey dress that it doesn’t stretch much and fits tight. The sleeves were uncomfortably tight on me. But I thought it would still work in this semi-fitted pattern. But it was too tight and had lots of drag lines. And when I raised my arms and put them back down the shirt stayed bunched up around the bust. It took less than a yard of fabric and I had started with two yards, so I decided to try again.

I made another Allure from the dusty olive cupro, this time size 12. I also added a .75-inch broad shoulder adjustment, in addition to the sloped shoulder adjustment — an adjustment I usually make with Bondi too. I used the screwp neck, shortened the hem by 3.5″ and shortened the sleeves by 1 inch.

This time the fit was very good. However, you can still see some drag lines at the shoulder, I think due to the lack of vertical stretch. I will definitely size up if I use this fabric again.The cupro fabric is an easy-care soft and silky fabric and has a nice drape, but it also seems to stick to itself and doesn’t smooth itself out without help, as you can see in these photos. We got the last photo below after a lot of smoothing. I think this is lovely fabric, but it doesn’t seem to work that well for a semi-fitted t-shirt. I think it works better in a dress because there is weight pulling it down. I think it would also work better with princess seams, in an oversized style, or even with a woven pattern.

Woof!

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At a Halloween party at work last year I got the idea of dressing up as Belka, the white standard poodle who roams around our office. I have been mulling this over in my mind for a year (am I obsessed?) and now finally my vision is a reality.

Originally, I was going to sew the whole costume, but I had trouble sourcing poodle fur fabric in a knit that would be comfortable to wear. I discovered I could buy inexpensive PJs/lounge wear already made in a suitable fabric. Actually, my first purchase of “white” lounge wear turned out to be off white with a cropped top, so I had to try again. The second attempt was about perfect, except the pants were too long and lacked pockets. I hemmed the pants and was able to use the hem I cut off elsewhere in the costume. I thought about adding pockets, but eventually settled on wearing a running belt with pockets under the loose-fitting top.

I spent way too much time pondering buying some white fluffy sneakers but ultimately decided I was unlikely to ever wear them again so I could just wear my regular white sneakers. Then I pondered how to make dog ears, tail, and possibly paws, and looked to the Internet for inspiration. I purchased a piece of white long-pile sherpa fleece, recommended for teddy bears. I looked at various hat patterns and ultimately decided that a hood might be better.

I had previously made a Sinclair Mojo Hood Scarf and noted that the pattern had instructions for adding ears to it. I decided to make just the hood part (not the scarf) and extend the cat ears from the pattern into dog ears. I cut up an old white t-shirt to prototype the hood. It seemed like it might work so I cut ears and hood pieces from the sherpa fleece and sewed the hood together with my serger using the t-shirt pieces as lining. It went together pretty well, but I was uncertain about how to keep it on my head. I considered adding the scarf after all, but then realized I could use the hem pieces I cut off of the pants as a turtleneck and attach them to the hood. After some trial and error and a bit of fine-tuning, I got the hood assembled. The ears don’t have quite the drape of real poodle ears, and my husband and I debated whether I should add a stiffener so that they would stay up. We agreed that the ears were cuter when pulled away from my head, but that isn’t actually how the dog in question looks.

I decided I needed a dog collar, so I ordered a buckle and strap kit with polyester webbing. I made a dog tag out of a piece of cardboard and some duct tape, and added a D ring that could attach to a leash.

The trickiest bit was the tail. I cut out a tail shape from two pieces of the fleece, sewed them together right sides facing, turned them inside out, and stuffed them with fleece scraps. But I got stuck on how to keep the tail attached to my backside, protruding out at a 90-degree angle and pointing up, not down. Gravity was not my friend here. I experimented with adding a piece of coat hanger for stiffness and attaching the tail to a piece of 1.5-inch elastic around my waist. Ultimately, I kept the coat hanger in the tail and also built a harness for the tail out of elastic and covered it with fleece. Two pieces of white elastic wrapped around my hips to keep the harness in place. The long top hides the elastic. It isn’t perfect, but it mostly works. If I were doing it again I think I would have started with a metal wire frame with a base and tail protruding at 90 degrees and then covered that with the fleece and attached it to the elastic.

Belka

I think the costume worked pretty well and was even reasonably comfortable to wear. I wore it all day at work and while walking around my neighborhood watching the trick-or-treaters. My students and colleagues enjoyed it and Belka didn’t seem to mind. Several people asked me whether she was confused by it. I think she was at first, but as soon as she sniffed me she knew it was me and she was unfazed.

Red Vail dress

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Styla Vail Dress with long sleeves, size 6, sloped shoulder and swayback adjustment, knee length, sleeves and hem shortened by 2 inches, 2 yards of ponte.

The pockets and the darts were what drew me to the Styla Vail Dress, which has a higher neckline and a more fitted skirt than I usually wear. I thought about hacking the neckline or adding more swing to the skirt but decided to try the pattern as intended before making major changes. After looking at photos of the dress on the pattern company website and Facebook group, I decided I preferred the versions made from more substantial fabric so I made the dress out of about 2 yards of a red 58″-wide rayon/nylon/spandex ponte fabric that has a bit of body and weight to it. I did a half-inch sloped shoulder adjustment when I cut out the fabric. After basting it together, I added a half-inch sway back adjustment and shortened the sleeves and knee-length hem by 2 inches before hemming with a wide cover stitch.

Everything seemed to go pretty well until I started constructing the pockets. After attaching and understitching the pocket bags, I realized that the the pocket bags were not going to lie completely flat. I’m not sure exactly why, but I’m guessing the ponte stretched a bit as I was sewing the curved pocket openings. I tried steaming and pressing but never did get it completely flat. This became a problem again when I attached the bodice to the skirt. I basted and re-basted multiple times until it was close to smooth, and finally sewed it together with my serger and pressed it again. It’s not quite as perfect as I would like, but now they I look more closely at the Facebook photos I realize most of these dresses have minor pocket issues. When I tried the dress on I also noticed that the back facing is quite visible on me — there aren’t enough back photos on the website or Facebook group for me to see whether this is a common problem or not. I think this would be less noticeable with a print fabric or a lighter weight fabric, and perhaps I should have lined it with a lighter fabric rather than the ponte.

I’m still not completely happy with the pockets, and they only get worse when I load them up with my phone and wallet. Still, it is a comfortable dress to wear and I think it looks good on, despite my complaints. I might make this dress again, but if I do I would use a lighter facing, maybe extend the back facing to the waist, and try something different with the pockets. I think they might sit better if they were cut on a diagonal rather than a curve, and perhaps set the pocket openings at a less steep angle so the top of the pocket opening hits higher on the side of the dress. I would also consider splitting the front skirt piece into three and anchoring the pockets between the two seams, as I did with the modified Pattern Emporium Heartlight skirt I made for my daughter. I would align the seams with the front darts, which might look pretty good.

The best part about this dress is that if I wear it with a blazer, it looks almost like a suit. To play this up I might even make a matching blazer if I have enough red ponte left. The blazer also hides the pockets if it is long enough. Here I’m wearing my Boo & Lu Onyx pocket blazer in charcoal grey ponte.

Update: After wearing and washing the dress, I decided to go back and add topstitching around the neckline and on the pocket openings to keep the facings from shifting and having to be ironed every time I wash the dress. I used a shallow zigzag stitch on my sewing machine.

Double bell

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Pattern Emporium Allure Bell Sleeve Top with modern bell sleeves in short and long lengths, size AU10, less than a yard of ITY, scoop neck, shortened 5 inches.

I had some fabric leftover black and white ITY fabric from my double-faux wrap dress and decided to use it to make a double-bell sleeve top for my daughter for her birthday last month. I used the Pattern Emporium Allure Bell Sleeve Top pattern, a pattern I had previously used only to add bell sleeves to the Wanderlust dress. Allure comes with a wide range of sleeve options. I decided to use the modern bell style in short and long lengths and attach them to short sleeves. I cut size AU 10 with a wide scoop neck. The pattern falls at hip length, so for me I would make it 2-3 inches shorter to account for my short height. My daughter prefers shorter tops and she is only an inch taller than me, so I shortened it by 5 inches.

The pattern came together pretty quickly and I’m really happy with the results. I’m sure I’ll be making more Allure tops. For me I will shorten it less next time, use the sloped shoulder adjustment I used on the Wanderlust dress, and probably also uses the Wanderlust neck band, which is slightly less scooped. Here you can see me modeling it before I sent it to my daughter.

And here’s my daughter modeling it when I visited her last week. I wore it untucked, she preferred to tuck it in.

Another cup of tea

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Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top with flared sleeves from the Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea tapered tie neck blouse, size AU6, 1.5 yards cobalt airflow, mid neck, regular length, simple hem, no button loop, no front or back center seams, sloped-shoulder adjustment, 1.5-inch shortened sleeves.

I made my lilac Be Mine and Spill the Tea mashup cap sleeve blouse as a simple, elegant summer top. So I decided to try the mashup again, but this time with the flared long sleeves from the Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea pattern. Although the size chart suggests that I am a size AU10, I sized down for all my Be Mine tops to an AU8, but they still seem a little big, so I decided to try an AU6 this time. I used the Mily Mae cobalt airflow polyester fabric this time – same woven crinkle fabric as the lilac top but a different color.

Once again, I sloped the shoulders and eliminated the front and back seam to keep this super simple. I also skipped the wide hem this time and serged the hem, and then folded it under a quarter inch twice and stitched it down with my quarter-inch edge foot. The flared sleeves were easy to assemble and attach. I shortened them by 1.5 inches before I cut them out, anticipating that I usually need to shorten sleeves unless it is a petite pattern. I sewed the whole thing together in a few hours one evening after dinner.

I like the sized-down fit, and didn’t have any problem getting it on or off. The flared sleeves aren’t as dramatic as the Be Mine balloon sleeves, but they still have plenty of drama, and they are easier to wear under a sweater. The top works both tucked and untucked.

I’m modeling my top with a pair of PE Urban Wide Leg pants in black ponte that I made last year.

Fall Blizzard

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Boo & Lu Blizzard dress with half-circle skirt and raised V-neck instead of modesty panel, size 4, 2 yards ITY, bishop sleeves shortened 1.5 inch

No, it didn’t snow in Pittsburgh. Actually, the weather has been delightful and more like Summer than Fall. Nonetheless, it’s starting to feel a little bit like Fall. In anticipation of more Fall weather coming this week, I made a Boo & Lu Blizzard dress from the most Fall-like fabric in my stash, a lightweight leaf-print ITY fabric. This cracked leaves fabric from Surge Fabrics is more light and drapey than a typical ITY, and appears to be slightly brushed on the front of the fabric and smooth and silky on the back. Unlike most other ITYs I’ve worked with, the edges on this one tend to roll a bit.

When the Blizzard adult top and dress pattern was released last year, I really liked the knot-front detail, but was less excited about the modesty panel (to cover the plunging V) and the squared hem on the skirt. I decided to buy the pattern anyway, with the plan to alter it to suit my preferences. I cut a size 4 without the modesty panel and I cut the hem of the skirt using a regular half-circle skirt pattern (size 4P from the Sinclair Valley Skater skirt add-on pack, cut 1 inch longer than above-knee length). I used the bishop sleeves but shortened them by 1.5 inch at the lengthen/shorten line. I also added pockets using a self-drafted inseam pocket bag I’ve used on other skirts without waistbands (or if I don’t want to attach it to the waistband).

The knot detail looks complicated and it was a bit confusing to figure out. I was disappointed not to find a video demonstration. But I followed the instructions and photos in the pattern, and once I understood what I needed to do, it went together very quickly.

I assembled the dress and then tried it on before hemming to see whether I could wear it without the modesty panel. It was definitely wearable, but the knot hit a bit lower than I really wanted for a dress I planned to wear to work. I thought about sewing in a smaller modesty panel, but any modesty panel would break up the V-neck line. I realized if I pinched together the V about 1.5 inches above the knot I could raise the neckline and still have a V-neck. So I pinned it in place and then sewed it down. since my fabric was a fairly busy print, I just zigzagged it in place with black thread that you can hardly see on the finished dress. Had I not had fabric that would camouflage the seam so easily, I would probably have hand sewn it in place from the back.

Most knit patterns I sew have 1/4-inch seam allowances, which means you can sew them with a serger without the need to trim the edges. This pattern has 3/8-inch seam allowances, which is sometimes used when you are supposed to serge the edges and then sew the seam with your sewing machine. But that is not what is suggested in the instructions so I just trimed 1/8-inch as I serged a 1/4-inch seam. It’s not a big deal, but not my preferred approach.

The bishop sleeves include a band at the wrist so no need to hem them. I used fusible seam tape to tack down a 5/8-inch hem seam and then zigzagged the hem on my sewing machine. Again, the fabric hides the zigzag so well that I didn’t bother cover stitching.

The dress bodice fits like a glove, which works well for this light, stretchy fabric. If I were sewing a heavier or less stretchy fabric, I would probably size up. I have a top I bought many years ago with a similar knot front design, but it is looser and has a center front seam. I’m pondering how to adjust this pattern to reproduce that look as well.

The dress looks great with tights and ankle boots. I’ll probably wear it with a black tie-front sweater when it gets cooler. I accessorized with an inexpensive leaf pendant that matches the fabric perfectly.

We had beautiful weather this weekend, and my photographer was willing to follow me around in search of leafy backdrops for a photoshoot, so I have lots of photos to share. We aren’t anywhere near peak leaf color here, but we still found some nice Fall backdrops.

Montana trip (Part 3: Yellowstone)

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The museum chartered a bus and took the honorees, family, friends, and guests on a guided tour of Yellowstone National Park. This was my first trip to Yellowstone (also my first trip to Montana and Wyoming) and the weather could not have been more perfect.

We stopped Mammouth Hot Springs first. The landscape was almost moon-like

We saw a Bison from the bus, and later big-horn sheep, elk, and ravens. We did not see a (live) bear (and did not rent any bear spray).

My favorite stop of the day was the Norris Geyser Basin, which featured a boardwalk around a huge basin full of gurgling, bubbling steaming geysers with brighly colored pools of water and sediment. It was a full sensory experience: you could see, hear, smell, and almost taste the geysers.

Our next stop was Artist Point, for beautiful views of a waterfall and canyon.

It was interesting to see and hear about all the different types of rock formations in Yellowstone. We also enjoyed making friends with everyone on our tour. At the end our tour guide suggested we take a group photo on the big “frog rock.” I think she expected us to climb on the rock, but our group wasn’t particularly into climbing so we all ended up in front of the rock.

Montana trip (Part 2: ACRM, Montana State, and Awards Ceremony)

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The American Computer and Robotics Museum sponsored the Stibitz-Wilson Awards, so they invited all the 2025 award honorees and guests for a guided tour of the museum, given by the museum president, Barbara Keremedjiev. Barbara was a very knowledgeable tour guide who talked about the museum collection with great enthusiasm and passion. I was excited to see some familiar computers and toys from my childhood in the collection. My elementary school had a PET. We had an early PC, a luggable, and a Sinclair at home. My high school had Apples and a lab of original Macs. I also had a Simon game, which I used as part of a science fair project.

After the museum tour we went to Montana State University for lunch with the new university president, Brock Tessman (he’s on the left side of the bottom photo).

We spent some time exploring Main Street in Bozeman, which had a banner across the street advertising the awards ceremony. There were lots of bars, outdoor stores, tshirt shops, and some ice cream shops and nicer restaurants. While we were wandering around I checked Google maps for the nearest fabric store and discovered one about 300 feet from where we were standing — I hadn’t noticed it because there was scaffolding in front of it for some construction. So I declared a fabric emergency and we immediately headed to the fabric store. It was a good sized store with a lot of quilting fabric. I was impressed that they had commissioned their own Yellowstone batik fabrics in several color ways. So I had to buy some as a souvenir.

The awards ceremony was held that evening at the Ellen Theater on Main Street. I wore my passwords ball gown and Chuck wore his matching passwords tie. Each honoree was invited to give a 15-minute presentation about their research. We had to send our slides in advance and the museum director was a bit concerned when I sent her 65 slides for a 15-minute talk. So we compromised on 50 slides, and I did finish my presentation in just under 15 minutes, briefly discussing my work on passwords, privacy notice and choice, and the art of privacy. It was fun hearing from the other honorees as well. Yasmin Kafai and Mitch Resnick both talked about their work teaching creative computing skills to children. They were both involved in the development of the Scratch programming language (which was very popular with my children). Serge Belongie and Pietro Perona helped build Visipedia, which underpins iNaturalist and the Merlin Bird ID apps.

Next up…. Part 3: Yellowstone

Montana trip (Part 1: hiking near Bozeman)

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When the American Computer and Robotics Museum reached out to me to let me know I was a winner of their 2025 Stibitz-Wilson Award, I was excited, especially when they told me that my prize included a trip for two to their award ceremony in Bozeman, Montana and a guided tour of Yellowstone National Park. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but my colleague Mary Shaw, a previous honoree, assured me that the trip would be fantastic. Indeed, it was!

Chuck and I arrived in Bozeman two days early so that we would have time to hike in Bozeman. (We had to fly through Denver to get there from Pittsburgh, and when our flight to Denver was delayed we thought we had missed our flight to Bozeman, but United Airlines held the plane for us and the handful of other passengers with late flights and we got to Bozeman on time!)

The weather was outstanding: not a cloud in the sky. On our first day we hiked the Beehive Basin trail, which ended up being about 7.3 miles round trip with a 1,645 foot elevation gain. We had to drive over an hour outside of Bozeman to get to the trailhead in Big Sky, and the hike took about 4 hours. There were not a lot of other people on the trail, but most of the people we saw had dogs and bear spray. We did find a dog named Ted (according to his collar) hanging out in the parking lot, and he accompanied us for the first mile and a half before turning back.

On the second day we started out with the College M hike near Bozeman. The College M is a giant letter M for Montana State University made out of white washed rocks. We had seen the M at the Colorado School of Mines and wanted to compare. The M at Mines has lighting, while the Montana State M does not. At the bottom of the trail there was a sign posted with recent bear and mountain lion sightings. There was a also an easy (and long) way to the top and a short and hard way to the top. We opted for the long way. It was difficult to actually see the whole M on this hike, but we saw it from the plane on our way home. We hiked to the top of the M and then hiked beyond it a bit and ended up coming down partially on the more difficult trail. We hiked almost three miles in about two hours with a 869 foot elevation gain. We did not see any bears.

College M trail

Since the M hike was pretty short and we hadn’t driven very far to get to it, we had lunch and then went on another hike: the Triple Tree Trail. This hike starts out as a public trail that basically cuts through peoples’ back yards and farms. It isn’t very steep until the end, but goes through a variety of changing landscapes and is quite picturesque, especially with the fall foliage starting to change colors. The aspen and cottonwood trees were bright yellow and the trail was lined with several types of berry bushes. Near the summit there are lots of switchbacks and when we got to the bench at the top we were happy to sit down. We hiked 5.6 miles round trip over about 2.5 hours with a 900 foot elevation gain.

Next up…. Part 2: the ACRM, Montana State, and the Awards Ceremony

My cup of tea

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Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top with cap sleeves from the Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea tapered tie neck blouse, size AU8, 1 yard lilac airflow, mid neck, regular length, wide facing, no button loop, no front or back center seams, sloped-shoulder adjustment

I wanted to make a short-sleeve top to go with my magenta suit. I bought lots of polyester crinkle airflow woven fabric when it was on sale at Mily Mae and I thought the polyester lilac airflow would go well with the magenta. (Note, the airflow is advertised as non-stretch, but because of the crinkle texture, it actually does have a bit of stretch (which could, perhaps, allow sizing down a size). It’s actually fairly similar to the Surge Florence stretch woven that I used recently for a Spill the Tea top; the Florence is just a bit crisper.) I considered making another PE Spill the Tea top, but wanted something without ties. I love the look of the ties, but not futzing with them and having to keep them from getting in the way as I go about my day. I realized that the PE Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top has a very similar bodice to Spill the Tea and that the sleeves are interchangeable. The balloon sleeves are awesome, but don’t play well under jackets and sweaters (and there’s no point wasting a fabulous balloon sleeve under a sweater). So I thought I could get a more practical and layerable top for wearing with jackets and sweaters by putting the Spill the Teas cap sleeves on the Be Mine top bodice.

I cut a size AU 8 Be Mine bodice with a sloped shoulder adjustment and eliminated both the front and back center seam. I cut the regular length with the mid neckline and the wide facing. This was fairly quick to sew together without the center seams and no hemming, bands, or binding needed for the cap sleeves. The part that took the longest was the wide hem, which I think looks really nice on an untucked shirt and adds some weight to this light-weight fabric. But the wide hem is quite the process: it requires stitching, surging, trimming, understitching, folding, top stitching, and pressing between each of these steps. The simple hem option would have been much faster.

I’m pleased with how my top turned out. It looks good tucked or untucked, coming or going!

(Modeled here with Urban Wide Leg pants in magenta ponte.)

Double faux wrap dress

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Joanne faux wrap knit dress with flounce sleeves, faux wrap flounce skirt from Flared skirts ADD-ON, size P4, pockets modified so as not to attach to waist, made from 3 yards of 60-inch-wide ITY (2 yards black, 1 yard white).

I recently made the Sinclair faux wrap flounce skirt for the Valley Skater dress and liked the results. I have long wondered about combining this skirt with the Sinclair Joanne dress, which has a faux wrap top. I figured if I had the the top and the skirt faux wrap meet at the waist it would look close to a real wrap dress.

I made my first Joanne dress over two years ago, before I had a serger or a projector. It is an old Sinclair PDF pattern but it doesn’t actually have projector files. Fortunately, the A0 copyshop files work just fine as projector files. I copied the pieces for the flounce-sleeve top and the pieces for the add-on faux wrap flounce skirt into an Affinity Designer File and was ready to project and cut.

I had a vision for using a pair of coordinating fabrics for this dress that would highlight all the flounces. I selected coordinating black-on-white and white-on-black “heartstrings” print ITY from Surge Fabrics, which seemed perfect for the project.

I accidentally copied the wrong size Joanne top and didn’t realize it until it was mostly sewn together and I wondered why it was so big. So I took it apart and cut the pieces down to the correct 4P size. Other than that little mistake, the dress came together pretty easily. I took the time, as usual to add pockets. I modified them so they attach only to the side seams and not the waist and made them a little deeper and sewed the openings up a bit so nothing falls out.

Since I used ITY fabric that doesn’t curl or fray I was able to leave all the flounces unhemmed.

These two patterns pair well. I decided to add a 2-inch wide belt to help “sell” the wrap idea and make it look less faux. The pattern includes a narrow belt, but I made a wider belt by cutting two 2.5-inch wide strips across the width of my fabric and serging them right sides together with a small gap, turning right side out, and hand sewing the gap closed.

Overall, I’m pleased with the results. However, I’m a little disappointed that my coordinating fabrics actually blend together and the flounces are much subtler than expected. I still like it, but I hope to find coordinating fabrics with higher contrast and make another dress like this some day. Another fabric shopping opportunity!

From cheap jeans to perfect jeans shorts

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I was intrigued on mulltiple levels when I read Rory Evans NYTimes Wirecutter article about how she found a dupe of her $410 jeans and turned them into shorts. So first of all, these must be really special jeans to be worthy of paying $410 for them. I am often the goldilocks of jeans purchases, so I can respect Rory’s satisfaction at finally finding the perfect jeans, especially perfect jeans with enormous pockets, high rise, and barrel legs. I want jeans with a high rise but a short length, pockets big enough that I can store my phone vertically below my hip crease, snug at the waist so they don’t fall down but enough room in the seat and legs that they are comfortable to wear all day and sit in for long periods of time. But although I could afford a $410 pair of jeans, I’m not sure I could bring myself to buy them. And I don’t love the styling of Rory’s dream jeans as much as she does. So instead I wait until Lands End puts my current favorite $90 pair of jeans on sale for half price and then alter them myself to closer to perfection. My most recent jeans purchases from Lands End were a pair of barrel-leg jeans with inadequate pockets that I extended and a pair of wide-leg jeans with decent pockets that I had to take the hem up nearly three inches. The wide-leg jeans look great as long as I wear them with a belt. The barrel-leg jeans are more of a casual look but don’t require a belt at all. Both are comfortable and seem to be holding up well. In both cases I invested less than $50 and about half an hour of my time for alterations.

But what really caught my attention about Rory’s article was that she had also been on a quest for jeans shorts, which I can also relate to. I have a few pairs of jeans shorts that look good on but I have stopped wearing them completely due to a combination of their inadequate pockets and not being all that comfortable to sit in. Instead I sewed myself a couple of pairs of elastic waist shorts, which are really in no way a substitute for classic denim shorts. At this point I’m sure I have the sewing skills to sew a pair of denim shorts or even full-length jeans, but I haven’t taken that plunge yet and I know that it will be a time-consuming experience and I likely won’t get the fit right the first time. So when Rory recommended hacking the legs off a $35 pair of jeans from Amazon that were somewhat of a dupe for her beloved jeans, it was an idea I could get behind.

Rory purchased a pair of the EVALESS Baggy Barrel Jeans from Amazon, cut off the legs, and hemmed them to create her perfect jeans shorts with pockets big enough to hold her water bottle. I figured they were worth a shot and I could always return them before cutting them up if they didn’t fit. I ordered a pair in size 4, Beau Blue for $31.99. The price has since gone up to $39.99. When they arrived I tried them on and the fit was indeed almost perfect. They are made of 65% cotton, 33% polyester, 2% elastane (spandex) and are super stretchy. The waistband stretches so they fit like a glove, but the waist is firm enough that they don’t fall down, and the cut is roomy enough that they are pretty comfortable to wear. The denim is lightweight (good for shorts in summer) and fairly smooth. The jeans look pretty good, but there are some flaws in the stitching and they don’t have rivets or other features of high end jeans. I’m not crazy about the way the knee darts are sewn, but that’s ok because I cut them off. They come with four enormous pockets. They are ankle jeans, but since I’m short they are full length on me. (Note, I tend to wear a size 2, 4, or 6 depending on brand. 4 is the smallest size these come in and it fits me fine. I think a 6 would probably also work for a looser fit, but I like the fit of the 4. I would not go any smaller even if they came in a 2. Because of the stretch most people could probably wear more than one size.)

I decided to make shorts with a 6-inch inseam so I measured and cut the inseam at 7 inches. Then I folded and pressed them up 1/4-inch and then again 3/4-inch. I stitched them with a straight stitch on my sewing machine from the inside about 1/8-inch from the folded edge.

I tried on my new shorts and they fit great! The pockets are incredibly large too — with storage like cargo pockets but without looking like you’re wearing cargo pockets. I like the back waist darts and I’ve been told they make my butt look good. I might even get more in other colors and maybe even another pair to keep as-is and wear as pants.

(Shorts are modeled with my Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea top in Florence stretch woven.)

Flounced!

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Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress with faux wrap flounce skirt from Flared skirts ADD-ON, size P4, pockets modified so as not to attach to waist, scoop neck, without a waistband and bodice extended 1.25 inch, made from 2 yards of 60″-wide ITY.

I’ve had the idea for this dress in my head for a while. I bought the Flared skirts ADD-ON for the free Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress two years ago and initially used it to make three half-circle skirt dresses (two short-sleeve, one long sleeve). I followed up with a 3/4 sleeve full-circle skirt dress, and more recently a short-sleeve half-circle PETS conference dress. But I had planned all along to try a sleeveless Valley dress with a faux-wrap flounce skirt.

Inspired by Bernice’s sleeveless light blue floral faux-wrap flounce Valley Skater dress that appears in the pattern tutorial, when I saw this light blue ITY fabric last summer at Surge Fabrics, I decided to make the same dress. (Bernice’s fabric is actually a thin slub knit, not an ITY.) I bought the fabric in Summer 2024 and didn’t manage to make it before the end of the summer. I wasn’t inspired to make a sleeveless dress last winter. Now that we are heading towards the end of Summer 2025 I decided it was time to make the dress before another summer passes.

The design for the faux wrap skirt is pretty clever. I love the way the flounces are cut out as donuts with the inner edge attaching to the skirt hem. With this approach, there is no need for gathering the fabric to create ruffles. The main downside is that it uses more fabric this way.

This is an older Sinclair pattern and it is not written and tested as thoroughly as the more recent patterns. I found a few errors, including pattern pieces labelled 4 that were shown as being labelled as 3 in the tutorial. More critically, for view F (the flounce wrap skirt) the instructions say to cut two of piece 8, but in fact only one piece 8 is needed (which I didn’t realize until I was sewing it together and wondered why I had an extra piece). The instruction for overlapping and securing the panels for view D should also mention that it applies to view F. A diagram of the assembly with flounce would have been helpful too (although the diagram showing where to attache the flounce pieces on the bottom of page 14 is quite helpful). Despite these issues, the skirt went together fairly easily.

I added pockets to the skirt using the same pocket construction technique as I used for my other Valley dresses. I altered the pocket design slightly so it connects only on the side seam and not the waistband to prevent dragging the waistband down when I put my phone in my pocket. I also extended the bodice by 1.25 inches, as suggested, since I did not add a separate waistband.

I made this dress in a petite 4, my usual size for Sinclair dresses. I recently sized up to a petite 6 for a Valley dress in less stretchy fabric, but that wasn’t needed for this ITY. This was my first time making a sleeveless Valley dress and I was a bit skeptical of the very narrow shoulder seam for the sleeveless scoop neck. But I resisted the urge to alter it and was pleased to see it came out just fine after adding the neck and arm bands.

I followed the neck and arm band instructions but took a few extra steps to make sure they came out well. First I zigzagged over the edges of the bands after folding them so that the layers of the slippery fabric wouldn’t shift. Then I used the “quarter method” for marking and pinning the neck band. I then basted it on with a wide zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, removed all the pins, and finally sewed it on with my serger. I did basically the same thing for the arm bands, but did not use the quarter method since the pattern included a mark for positioning the shoulder seam.

Since the ITY fabric has a nice clean cut edge that doesn’t fray or curl, I decided not to hem my flounces. This saved time and gave the flounces a nice drape.

I finished the dress before lunch and then put it on to wear to our block party this afternoon in the street in front of my house. While I normally wear shorts and a t-shirt to this event, I couldn’t wait to wear my new dress, and it was pretty comfortable to wear in our hot and humid weather. I love the look of this dress from both the front and back! I was also pleased that despite the fact that the inner wrap is connected only at the waistband, it stayed suitably wrapped.

Cassie V2 top for woven fabrics, also works for stable knit

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Sinclair Cassie V neckline top and dress for woven fabrics made of 1.5 yards of 58” wide burgundy PyLos LiKnit, size 4p, long sleeves shortened by 2 inches.

I tested Cassie V1 but was traveling when the V2 pattern released and didn’t get back until after the testing period was over. So here’s my V2, better late than never.

Cassie is a v-neck pattern for woven fabrics. In the original V1 pattern the neckline crossed over, but too many sewists complained about gaping, so the final V2 was switched to a v-neck without the crossover, but including a pair of cute notches. I decided to try the pattern in PyLos LiKnit, a stable knit fabric made from 55% Rayon/45% Nylon. It has about 25% stretch horizontally, but minimal vertical stretch. I treated it as a woven when I sewed. I think it behaved pretty well for this pattern, although it has a little bit more thickness than a woven and it stretches a bit, so it made it harder to get sharp points in the notches and a crisp V. However, the stretch also made the top more comfortable to wear and easier to get on and off.

I cut out a 4p AB cup top with long sleeves and made no pattern modifications. I top stitched all the optional places where it was suggested. My original attempt at sewing down the neck binding was a bit off and caused the v-neck to be uncentered. Fortunately it was pretty easy to unpick and resew (although looking at the finished product now I realize it still isn’t perfectly centered… oh well).

After I sewed the first sleeve on I tried it on and was disappointed to see the sleeve hanging well past my wrist. I’m used to sleeves that are too long on me, but was surprised the sleeve was too long on a petite pattern. Since this sleeve is gathered and the band added before you sew it to the garment, there is no opportunity to check the sleeve length before it is finished. I went back and looked at photos posted by other sewists and noticed that most opted for the 3/4 length rather than the long sleeve. It looks to me like the long sleeves in this pattern just run long. The sleeve bands took a while to construct and I didn’t want to take them apart. So instead I unpicked the sleeve head and cut two inches off the top of the sleeve head. I was able to mark my cutting line by using a ruler to draw dots every inch or so two inches from the top edge of the sleeve. Then I connected the dots. I cut along the line and reattached the sleeves. This time it worked much better. (Warning for other sewists, unless you have particularly long arms, if you sew the long-sleeve version you will likely need to shorten the sleeves!)

Overall, I’m happy with this top. This is not a style I normally wear, and it may be more difficult to layer than my typical long-sleeve tshirts. But it goes well with both wide and skinny jeans as well as black dress pants, and it should not require ironing. I really like this long-sleeve version (now that I shortened the sleeves) but I also like the sleeveless and 3/4 length versions other sewists made.

There’s also a nice video on this pattern from Lifting Pins and Needles.

Cassie V1

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Sinclair Cassie V1 made of 43” of 52” wide dark sage cotton double gauze, size 4p, modified to remove gathers and wrap sleeve bindings.

My first time doing a pattern test for Sinclair I ended up being the pattern cover girl for the Linda pattern. I haven’t had time to sign up for a pattern test since, but when the Cassie top and dress was announced, it appeared I would have time to make it before heading out on a trip. 

Cassie is a woven pattern, and I don’t have a lot of woven fabric in my stash besides the 18 yards of cotton double gauze I bought on clearance last year and a lot of quilting cotton. I was worried that the quilting cotton would be too stiff for this pattern, so I went with dark sage double gauze. But I waited for other sewists to post some initial photos of their makes before cutting. I wasn’t sure I would like the fit of the dress, which appeared to be fairly loose, so I made the top version in a size 4P.

I initially tetrised the pattern in Affinity Designer to fit in 1 yard of 58” fabric before realizing that my fabric was actually 52”. At that width it takes more than a yard of fabric, but i made it all fit in 43″.

The pattern was released for testing with only partial instructions, as the pattern designer made some last minute changes. She updated the instructions a couple of times to add the missing information, but never released the full instruction set. As I worked on my top, I periodically checked the Facebook group for the pattern test to see whether new updates had been released.

The top has a crossover V-neck with cute notches. I wasn’t sure from the line drawing that I would like the notches and was tempted to leave them out. But I’m glad I kept them as they are a really nice and unique detail. The instructions for facing the crossover pieces was pretty easy to follow. The double gauze was a bit of a challenge because it is fairly fluffy and thus hard to get nice sharp points, but I made it work. I regretted trimming the facing to 1/8 inch (as instructed), as it made understitching the gauze more difficult — next time I think I would clip the curve but not trim.

Other sewists complained that the V-neck gaps open — this seemed to be a big problem for larger sizes. Besides the gaping problem, people were complaining that the top was too loose, and some who tried adding the optional ties did not like the look. In addition, there were some complaints about the cap sleeve being too pointy. I suggested that the pattern designer offer a sleeveless option to address the cap sleeve problem, a suggestion she adopted. The pattern designer polled testers about some possible changes and a couple days later posted some new line drawings while she worked on revising the pattern.

I could see from the new drawing that I would need to start over to make the revised design. So I decided to go ahead and finish the top I had started in the mean time. I sewed on the “skirt” and was not happy with the look of the gathered front and back, which looked to me like a maternity top. So I took it apart and cut the gathered pieces down so they would fit  in place without gathering. I also graded in the waist a bit and trimmed the point off the cap sleeves. 

As the top stitching on the neck facing stands out in the double gauze I decided to mirror the look by making a hem of similar width. I serged the bottom of the top, folded it up .25 inch and then another 1.25 inch, and top stitched it from the front.

The last bit to figure out was the sleeve binding. The pattern included narrow bias binding strips, but the instructions did not detail how to attach them. Having done this sort of binding before for double gauze necklines (on my purple Alva top and my orange Meet You There dress) I had a good idea of how to do the binding and I knew it would be difficult with double gauze. Therefore i cut wider bias binding (1.75 inch) and attached it wrapped around the armscye edges.

I finished my Cassie V1 top before leaving town, and even managed to do a photo shoot. It looks great with my matching PE Vacation Vibes pants, but also looks good with other pants and shorts. it was fun to try out a new pattern and be involved in the discussion of what worked well and what needed improvement. I uploaded photos to the Facebook group right before the pattern designer posted the V2 pattern, but making V2 had to wait until I got back into town a week later.

Photos below of my hacked Cassie V1. The final Sinclair Cassie pattern is now available, and as you will see, no longer includes the crossover front or the horizontal seam in the back. But it still has the cute notches on the neckline and now comes with multiple sleeve options. I’ll post the top I created with the final pattern next.

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Garment sewing index

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Wow, I’ve sewn a lot of clothes! To make it easier to find my makes, I’ve put together this index page. You can look for garments by type, or by pattern maker. You can also use the search box in the upper right corner of this page to find more specific items.

Garment types: accessories, cardigans, dresses, jackets and blazers, mens, shorts and skorts, skirts, tops

Pattern makers: Boo & Lu, Ellie & Mac, Love Notions, Pattern Emporium, Petite Stitchery, Sinclair, Styla

Accessories

Cardigans

Dresses

Jackets and Blazers

Mens

Pants

Shorts and skorts

Skirts

Tops

More double gauze Vacation Vibes

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Pattern Emporium Vacation Vibes Palazzo Pants, made of 65” of 52” wide dark sage cotton double gauze, size AU8 short, low rise, modified foxy pockets.

I’m still not going on vacation, but I made a second pair of Pattern Emporium Vacation Vibes Palazzo Pants. I made my first pair of Vacation Vibes last summer in purple cotton double gauze. That was my first time sewing with double gauze and I wasn’t sure whether to iron it or not. I found conflicting advice online and decided to go with those who advised against ironing since that seemed like the easy way out. However, I learned that if you cut and sew double gauze without ironing it, it stretches and grows quite a bit as you wear it. My pants ended up being too big. I had cut the high-rise version because generally I prefer high-rise pants. However, I’ve found that, as a petite person, PE high rise seems to be too high on me, and that was even more the case when I used double gauze. So after wearing them, I removed the waistband and about 2 inches from the rise before reattaching it. They are still too baggy, especially in the seat, but quite wearable and I do wear them (but I’m considering taking them apart and cutting them down further).

After sewing a PE Be Mine top (modeled with the pants in the photos in this post), I decided to make a pair of green double gauze pants to match. I had a little less than 2 yards of 52” wide gauze left from another project (I’ll post about that one soon) so I did some pattern piece tetrising in Affinity Designer and discovered I could get the pattern into 65” if I rotated it 90 degrees and cut the pants legs along the width of the fabric rather than the length. My gauze doesn’t appear to be directional, so this worked out ok.

This time I thoroughly pressed the gauze, sized down from an AU10 to an AU8, and cut the lower rise. I used the pocket opening line from the high rise so that the pocket opening would not be as low when I added the foxy pockets (I’ve done this with other PE patterns as well to keep things from falling of pockets). I sewed according to the pattern except for the pocket opening modification and adding a second row of topstitching around the pocket bag as a decorative design detail.

As I was sewing I discovered that despite my best efforts, I had managed to stretch the gauze as I was cutting it. This resulted in one of the pants legs being abut an inch shorter than the other. I evened them out before hemming, which meant I could not do the full 2-inch hem I had planned. I serged the hem, folded under .25 inch and then .75 inch and top stitched.

I think these fit a lot better than my pruple paints, although they are still a little baggy in the seat and the fabric slides around on the waistband a bit. I wonder if they might be better with a shirred waist band. Nonetheless, they look pretty good, especially with my Be Mine top. I also made a sleeveless top from the same fabric as part of a new pattern test, but I can’t show you until the new patten releases. These pants are very comfortable to wear and work with both tucked and untucked shirts. One of these days I will make a pair of Vacation Vibes in some other woven fabric.

Going to the tropics

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Pattern Emporium Going Places Fit-Flare and Fitted dress, made of 1.5 yards of tropical print DBP, size AU8 top graded to AU10, knee length ballet neck, sway back adjustment, pockets added

No, I’m not going on vacation, but I made a Pattern Emporium Going Places dress in a tropical print, and with some of the warm weather we’ve had lately in Pittsburgh, when I stand next to the flowers in my front yard I feel somewhat tropical.

I picked up this pattern a few weeks ago when it was on sale (it originally came out in 2019). This dress has both a fitted and flt & flare option and several different necklines (including a low cut “babe” option). But what is distinctive about this dress is that regardless of which option you choose, you have cute sundress straps in back that are designed to cover bra straps. I chose the ballet neck and flit & flare options, cut to knee length, with side seam pockets added (not part of the pattern). I used a soft and lightweight double-brushed polyester print that I bought on clearance last year from Milly Mae.

The fit & flare version of this dress is basically the same dress as the PE Wanderlust dress but with straps instead of sleeves and binding instead of a neck band. Having previously made and adjusted three Wanderlust dresses, I knew I would need a sway back adjustment, so I went ahead and copied the adjustment I already worked out for the Wanderlust pattern. I also had already worked out how to add pockets to this pattern. I decided to use the AU 8 for the bodice and then graded the waist and skirt to an AU 10. After sewing it together I decided it was too long and shortened it by 2 inches (I should have anticipated needing to shorten it as I usually shorten PE patterns by 2 inches). I turned under the hem 5/8 inch and cover stitched with off-white thread.

The dress is a pretty fast sew, but it took me a bit longer due to adding the pockets and sewing neck binding with my cover stitch machine for the first time. I had never does this binding technique so I practiced on scrap fabric, but once I figured it out it was pretty easy, although does take some (and a lot of pins) to pin in place before sewing. I opened up my Triumph suitcase and got out my cover stitch foot and used it for the first time.

The bra-strap covering straps are great, but they do take some work to position properly. The pattern instructions suggest where to pin the straps in place as a starting point, but they were set too wide and too long for me. I had to repeatedly shift them and try the dress on again, and I finally enlisted the help of an assistant who could more easily see my back. Once I was happy with the positioning I sewed them in place with my cover stitching on top of the cover stitching on the binding. The binding is a nice polished finish in both the front and back.

I’m very happy with this dress and my husband really likes it too. I like the fact that I can wear a sweater or jacket with it and wear it to work too. I’m looking forward to trying other neck options, and maybe a maxi version in some fancy fabric. The pattern can also be truncated to make a tank top, which I may try as well.