Call Me Mrs. Craftypants!

There are probably500 reasons why being tall is cool, and I'm probably aware of most of them. But I am also aware of some of the downsides, let's say "challenges" that being tall can present (not excluding shorties here, as I'm sure you have a plethora of problems of your own) and it has never been more obvious to me than now. I always wondered how much of a problem finding maternity clothes for talls would present before I got pregnant. I mean, finding pants with my minimum 36" inseam in itself was hard pre-pregnancy. As it turns out, my worries have been confirmed as my waistline expands, and I've found myself in a pickle over finding maternity jeans long enough for these glamourous gams.



For the traditional tall gal, one with legs proportionate to torso, the maternity pants at most locations that carry "talls" will do. But not for me. I am all leg, no body, and 100% hard to fit most of the time. Now let me say this--and any future or current clothing designers, listen up! A 32" inseam IS NOT A TALL GIRL SIZE! Let's be realistic--with proper genetics and nutrition, kids are taller these days, particularly women. If I had any talent at all as a clothing designer, I'd create some tall clothes that actually fit TALL women (those from 6'0 and up.) Don't get me wrong, pre-maternity tall clothes are out there, but boy have I struggled lately.



Heaven bless my mom--she found me these "yoga pants" at Sams Club, that surprise, surprise--are actually long! They fit beautifully, and are oh-so-comfy. But I like to partake in Friday Jean Day at school, and for the last 2.5 months I have not been able to so much as even squeeze my ever-growing butt into a pair of jeans without pinching every bit of my lower extremities! Jeans have become my obsession (mostly because they are widely unavailable to someone of my tall stature in my bumpy state) but as of late I'd nearly given up finding any that were long enough. Even my FAVORITE TALL GIRL SHOP http://www.tallwomensclothes.com/ was out--they don't make maternity jeans. :( The only way (apparently) that I can get maternity jeans that fit are to order designer jeans that cost $260. ) Um. No. I only have 4 months left--that's crazy!

And then...I found CRAFSTER! A fabulous website for people like me who like to sew and create. One day, while trying to find a way to convert my current jeans into preggable jeans, I found this! http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=28377.msg237021#msg237021and on Saturday, I made it happen! I was so pleased with myself that I decided to blog about it and show off my new (old) jeans!

My Newest Project--Recycled Target Bag

Well, if you've been keeping up with my posts you've probably noticed that I like to create
bags out of other stuff. Here is my latest creation--an upgrade from the prototype that I made
at school earlier this year. It is a gift for my friend Alisa for her birthday, though I have to
admit I'm having a hard time letting go of it because it is so much cooler than the first one
that I made! I included a little irony in making it--one side of the bag has the part of the
Target bag that includes "10 Ways to Reuse the Target Bag" (Or something like that.) My way was NOT on the side of their bag, but its a pretty good use, don't 'cha think?

Recycled Shopping Bag Project

My 6th graders and I have been trying to come up with better uses for those plastic grocery bags that we all seem to have a mountain of. (We've been doing a cross-curricular lesson with Science and Geography which is how this all got started.) But you know me--I tend to take things one step further. Partially out of boredom (or maybe I just needed to think about non-school stuff) I ended up deciding that I needed to melt the plastic bags together and create something new out of them. (I know, sounds crazy, but it worked!) What I ended up with were slightly larger sheets of melted plastic (8 layers thick) that I cut into quilt squares. I then proceeded to sew the squares together to form a handy-dandy shopping bag (environmentally friendly!) Those ones at the stores are cute, but I like mine better. It is lightweight, easy to clean, and there is no one else on the planet with one exactly like it. I hauled 3 half-gallons of organic milk home in it the other day and it worked beautifully! Hope you like it!

My ME Paper Purse

My friend Alesia's birthday was in January, so I made her this purse from my expired calendar pages (I love those page-a-day types.) Mary Engelbreit is just the cutest, and Shaw is an artist (so I KNEW she'd love it!) I was really proud of my creation, and it has since sparked a new interest for me--recycling old stuff into new stuff!