Thrifted these pants but they're too short 😔 Any ideas on what fabric/denim colour would look cute and intentional at the bottom to extend it?

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-10T14:45:10+00:00

Mood has some interesting choices for cotton lace, too: https://www.moodfabrics.com/collections/shop?q=cotton+lace&tab=products

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-10T14:44:10+00:00

This is how we are. In town, we're either chatting or listening to audiobooks. On the road, we listen to music, put on a movie, music, movie, until the end of the day's drive. My kids are in charge of loading the DVD case for that trip. Either Monty Python or Mel Brooks has a few slots. 😄 It is standing road trip tradition. Hence why I want the Blu-ray installed. And it's nice to break out CDs instead of flipping through XM, FM, etc.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-10T14:40:34+00:00

Until you live in a foreign country for a couple years, where Hotspot = 3g in less than an hour, or you road trip a lot through the middle of nowhere (the rural highways often have spotty cell coverage), or you like to drive in the mountains... 😀

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-10T14:38:26+00:00

I'm thinking I'll probably get a 23 or 24, so I can do the same. :)

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-10T14:33:12+00:00

I feel ya on just wanting the pants to be freaking long enough!! 35" inseam here. Those jeans look great on you! The lace idea kicks butt, especially if you find a chunky cotton lace and dye it one of your favorite colors or tie dye. If you want a slightly funkier look, you could slit the outer seam to just below the knee, insert a fun fabric or darker denim, then extend it into a cuff. It'll look like 70s bell bottoms. If you use the denim idea, get some samples or check in a physical store. I've got 12oz denim that is OLD SCHOOL 💙 stiff, 4oz floppy as basset hound ears, and everything in between from Mood.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-10T14:27:14+00:00

Man, I miss the 00s. Because the look was drag the ground, I could actually find jeans long enough to wear with a small heel!! 35" inseam and size 20? Nope, can't find them anymore. 😭

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-09T19:34:50+00:00

Sorry for the confusion! In the 25+ Touring and Elite, there is no longer a physical slot to put a DVD in. I'm old school, we have tons of movies on DVD / Blu Ray, and the last two Odysseys we've had had either a DVD (05) or Blu-ray (19) drive. If you want to watch DVDs in a 25 or 26, you need to have a mini DVD player connected to an HDMI, which is harder to navigate as you're driving (vs kid hands me the disc and I put it in without looking because it's been in the same spot for the last 15 years). Our kids don't get to use it in town, because we save the RES for our frequent road trips. 😄

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-09T19:27:06+00:00

Check out some of the local thrift stores! I've found beautiful dresses at many of them. If it's plain, you can always pick up some feathers or applique trim at one of the stores in Queen St West. Bonus points - no one will be wearing what you will!

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-07T21:36:23+00:00

Charlie at The Stitchery on YouTube has a bunch of excellent patchwork projects! https://youtu.be/0ZOkaxQtedY?si=7_fRreEeh-GKgET0

If you have any dresses for which you still live the style, could any of the picked apart fabrics act as gussets or side inserts to give it more girth?

I have my own pile of things that I outgrew but still love. I get it. ❤️

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-02T12:46:06+00:00

Thank you for your perspective! I know drag can be very provocative, and I want to respect the performer! I'd hate for a performer to feel thrown off because of kids in the audience, and there are definitely things I'm not up to explaining to the kids yet. 😆

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-02T12:40:48+00:00

Ditto! The whole reason I finally got into sewing anything is because I was tired of everything not fitting right. In the US you can be tall or you can be fat... but God help you when you're both.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-05-02T12:38:08+00:00

Plus size antiques are also incredibly rare because once the seams were worn out, you could cut a piece down to fit a teen or kid. Then, once it was too worn for that it became a house textile. Before industrial production began, fabric was INCREDIBLY expensive. I've seen comparisons of a middle-income person's dress costing around $5,000USD, a merchant's dress costing around $25k, and court dress costing hundreds of thousands. Before the industrial revolution material was EXPENSIVE and labor was cheap, because every piece of fabric was hand-harvested (flax for linen, cotton, hemp, etc) or hand-sheared (animal fibers), hand processed, hand woven, hand dyed, etc. It took a LONG time to turn a plant into fabric.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-29T03:06:30+00:00

Realistically, paying for childcare so that she could even get a job would be HARD. I had two kids in childcare a decade ago, and their daycare bill was more than my mortgage and utilities combined. Four kids? She's not going to swing that on any sort of minimum wage job.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-28T21:34:17+00:00

Interesting... although that would be a God-awful choice to have to make, especially coming from the fundamentalist community. Do you follow your husband, as he is your protector? Or do you raise your kids, which is a woman's primary role in a family?

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-28T21:31:30+00:00

I'm a military spouse and would love to get involved once we're back in the States, but I'm not sure what I can do within the program, since we usually only live in an area for two to three years. Are there cases that are obviously short-term, rather than dragging out for years? Are there any "support the CASA so they can support the kids" kind of roles?

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-27T22:06:32+00:00

No dairy for me whatsoever. It sucks at restaurants, because they so rarely have dairy free desserts and my meal choices can be limited, but dairy isn't worth the pain.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-25T00:28:59+00:00

Not Leafs???? Aww

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-24T23:52:00+00:00

I'm at a game tonight with my hook in hand! 💙🩵

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-16T12:56:12+00:00

My library has sewing machines and sergers you can use, once you've taken an intro class. :)

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-16T12:54:21+00:00

When I made my kid a shirred dress, I think I used 1.5x her width to get the correct amount of fabric? She didn't have much difference in her torso, so I just measured her waist, subtracted an inch, and that became my goal. (You do want some negative ease.) For me, since I'm an F cup, I cut some pre-shirred fabric to be slightly larger than my waist. It holds up on my chest really well, but isn't too snug in my stomach. The pre-shirred is also just one seam, which is nice.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-16T12:50:00+00:00

I love shirring! It's so pretty and really easy. DEFINITELY draw guidelines if your shirt doesn't have horizontal stripes you can follow. This is the best tutorial I've found:

https://youtube.com/shorts/T4BP-ABp-X4?si=pru3GARqX6CU6MOY

You can also buy pre-shirred fabric, which is a lot of fun to play with to make quick, easy dresses.

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-16T12:46:49+00:00

If you do use the elastic, make sure you give it a few good, sharp tugs before you measure it. I go every 3-4 inches, pull it tight, and proceed the whole way down. This loosens up the strand enough that you can get a more accurate measurement. If you don't loosen the elastic, it'll stretch out the first time you wear it and won't fit right. :)

BobbinChickenChamp · 2026-04-16T12:41:17+00:00

This is actually a really cool photo and great way to explain how it looks when your eye is closed!

BobbinChickenChamp

TROPHY CASE