Jalie Redux or Thanks Kathleen Cheetham!

What a day! Mid January and the thaw is over ... not that we really froze to begin with up here. IT has been hard to believe that I live on the same latitude as Moscow! We got about 4 inches of snow today. Not much, but enough to make people really silly when driving! Even so, I was only 10 minutes late for the second interview only to find out they were expecting a phone call asking to delay. Really? And how serious a candidate would I be if I had to do that considering it was only 4"? And considering that I learned to drive in this type of weather on the Atlantic seaboard?

The interview went well, I got very good vibes off of this as I did not see any others being interviewed, unlike last week. Not to mention that they were going to call me tonight with the results. But I am out this evening with Scouts, so they have to wait till tomorrow to tell me!

What did I wear, curious divas want to know? Hee hee ... nothing new I am afraid. Headache last night stopped me from doing anything more. So, the cardigan topped a RTW silk knit top in a nice teal worn over my Jalie pants. As I noted in my review of these pants, there were some fitting issues that needed addressing. I have since altered them a bit. A few issues back in Threads there was an article by Kathleen Cheetham on altering the back of RTW or already completed pants. I immediately thought of these pants and decided that this was a way to fix my back problem. So, here is the before shot:

What I did was to remove the excess by pinning a horizontal tuck along the widest part of the back, tapering to nothing at the s.s.. Measuring the tuck (about 2 1/2" YIKES), I then lowered the waistband the same amount, cutting off the extra fabric. I will alter the pattern to reflect the change in the back pattern piece. I also made the vertical adjustment, pinning out a 5/8" vertical tuck from the bottom of the crotch area to the knee. As per the article, I then removed this amount from the back inseam only, tapering to nothing at the knee area. That I have to do this is not a surprise to me as I had originally added a bit extra to the crotch points and I think this is only removing that excess. I still have to hitch the pants up a smidge (as I am doing in the photo), but doing any further changes at this weight will result in a sever wedgie! So, I will live with the slight excess until I drop a few more pounds. Here is the much improved after shot:


Now the debate is whether or not I use the same size next time! I seem to have taken a lot out doing these fixes. Is it worth starting over again when I know how to fix this size? The other thing I have noticed is that the waistband placement needs to be lowered at the s.s. as it has a curved appearance right now. Something else to do in the next version! I think I will stick with this size for now. Maybe when a few more pounds come off I will downsize (pun fully intended!) And yes, that is the HP Cherry Blossom coat in the background, resting on Mindy. I still haven't hemmed it. You have to be in the mood for handwork, you know? And awake, too!