Cranky Pants

Sometimes I'm a morning person.  Sometimes I'm not. And when I'm having a bad morning I can only handle routines--shower, coffee, drive to the studio.  I find it very difficult to dive into creative work.

And if I'm having a hard time waking up, I really shouldn't do office work--bills will make it worse, no one wants an email from that version of me, I definately can't work on a blog or tutorial--but, I've got to do something, DOING wakes me up.  What to do?   I recently settled on a solution to this problem: make pants for babies.  Actually, it solves two problems.

Problem 1: Sometimes I'm not a morning person and I can't dive into my normal work.
Problem 2: My stash contains a lot of fabric that I like, but am highly unlikely to use in a quilt--too bright, too juvenile, too novelty.

The solution:
Make Quick Change Trousers.  Or, as I like to call them, Cranky Pants.



This is a pattern in Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner.
I have always thought these pants were adorable, but seeing various versions made by Ashley (Film in the Fridge) and Amanda (Soule Mama) actually convinced me that I would very much like to make them.  Soooooo cute and perfect for brights and novelties!

Plus, it also solves Problem 3: My friends are starting to have babies en masse and I can't/won't make quilts for them all, the pattern is really simple and now takes me no more than 45 minutes per pair.  Perfect for a little wake-up exercise.
The pants are reversible! I have been trying to make them all gender neutral to add to the challenge.  

Some details on making:  on a friends recommendation I bought Sewable Swedish Tracing Paper and traced the pattern onto it.  This stuff is really see-through and durable.  Great for tons of uses!  I've cut out the three smallest sizes so far (3 months, 6 months, and 9 months) and used them several times.

Because there are a lot of straight edges on the pattern, I use my rotary cutter for most of the fabric cutting.  This saves time, but after doing it a few times, I started worrying that I'll slowly shrink the pattern by cutting little slivers off here and there.  So, when I traced the pattern for new sizes, I added a line 1/4" inside the edge.  That way, I'll know if I've shunk the pattern down (as a quilter, 1/4" is a magic thing I recognize on sight.)



Also, while the book says you need 5/8 yard of two fabrics for the 3-month and 6-month sizes, it's not true.  1/2-yard of each does it.   Which is great.  So much of my stash is 1/2-yard cuts.




Picking out the fabrics is pretty fun.  I've really been digging through my stash.  The little bits for the back yoke are quite small, so even some tiny pieces have found their way into pants!  I had exactly that much of the seahorse fabric.  Perfect!

Speaking of the stash, I've posted a very tiny destash on ebay.  It's stuff that might be too valuable for cranky pants, but that I'm unlikely to use in a quilt.  If you are interested, the listings are up on ebay, username FreshModernQuiltsLLC.  They end on Friday, June 14th.



Pants!