No Labor Day

Happy Labor Day from here at Chez Debbie ... where absolutely NO labor is happening at all. We're hanging out on the back porch (lanai), dipping toes into the pool, surfing the 'net, and waiting for when it's time to fire up the grill.

Linen Bermudas ... it doesn't get much more comfortable than this. And a rayon knit top only helps. (Speaking of which, the front of this top is double-layer, so be warned if you have your own personal heater moments! ) I will probably be living in these shorts for the rest of the summer, on weekends and after work. Or at least until they're too big, because I was serious yesterday about the gym. I know my weight gain is due to the emotional rollercoaster of the last few months and hopefully I'm now off that ride, but I am more than ready to drop those lbs.that creeped back onto my butt. And, arrghh the reappearance of back fat makes me mad. Thankfully, this is one thing that IS in my power to control.

So, a few fabric and construction details. First, hopefully this shot below helps you understand how the border print was used. I really like how the border forms the cowl and looks almost separate from the rest of the tee but still matching the other print area. Kind of a necklace without wearing jewelry.

Here's the tuck in the shoulder that I mentioned as my solution to fix the too-wide front shoulder. I've revisited the pattern tissue and conclude that I just didnt' fold the cowl facing far enough inward. It helps to look at pattern markings from time to time. Oops.

Hard to see in this low-contrast pic, but here are the pockets on the front of the shorts. I love me some pockets so I'm happy with these and they don't gape at all. But instead of using a bias binding facing on the open edge and turning under the outside edge, I just cut two pocket pieces for each, sewed them RS together, flipped them RS out, and pressed before topstitching/attaching. SO MUCH easier to get a smooth curve that way and the linen isn't too bulky that the extra layer is even noticeable. If anything, since linen "gives," it's probably better to have a bit more stability.

This is the back of the shorts. No pockets here, but you can (hopefully?) see where I used the sideseams from the old Marrakesh pants as a design feature seam for these shorts. I wish I could say this was the plan from the beginning, but I soon learned that I didn't have much choice about where my shorts pattern pieces would fit on the old pants.

More Labor Day Weekend Miscellaneous ... here's Alex mixing up his custom marinade for the steaks we'll be grilling in a couple of hours. I don't know what it is about men and steaks and grills, but I'm all for anything that gets me out of the dinner chore. Go Alex!

I haven't been the only one "creating" this weekend. These are Alex's shorts. Shorts that I JUST BOUGHT a week ago. He wore them once and then managed to dribble liquid pool chlorine on them (the really white spots). We were both a little more than irritated. Me, since I just spent the money. Him, since he really liked the shorts. Yesterday, while at the grocery store, I bought some gel bleach with a pointy tip. I handed it over to Alex and told him to have at it. The pic here doesn't do the shorts/bleach design justice. They look really cool and he'll definitely be wearing them. I would too if they fit me. ;-) I know the fabric will be weakened now but at least the shorts won't go directly into the trash bin yet.

Alex had so much fun with the bleach on his shorts that he went looking for more clothing to transform. He came up with this plain red tee. It looks like he tie-dyed it, but it's really just the gel bleach squirted randomly all over. Good job!