You are what you eat

Just saying

365 days of fasting...

As of Saturday, 5 August, I am giving up knitting for a year.
Just to see....

In the words of the great Ken Dodd...

What a beautiful day for handing your notice in.....

Progress report....

None.

How depressing

I thought I'd just post up a quickie after the Great South weekend, and what do I find? The last post.  From February. Saying exactly what I'm about to conclude now.

Which is that 5k doesn't work for me and I'm not going to do it any more and I'll stick to 1ks and 1 milers instead.

Could have saved 8 months of sweaty red faced selfies. Where is the glamour?

Less talk more run!

I've just completed a 5 week running plan.  Not the many variations of C25k, with or without virtual zombies, but Too Fat To Run 5 weeks to 5k. 

So, the plan is far more to my taste than the bitty C25ks and I would definitely recommend it to anyone like me who finds running/walking for 90 second intervals (leg lifts on a treadmill?) then finishing on a 15 minute run is completely against common sense.

if you do what Julie tells you to do, you will get there in the 5 weeks.  If, like me, you have to over-analyse everything, you may still get there, but you will probably do everyone's heads in, as well as your own.

Which has got me wondering about the negative voices in my head- why are they there, what purpose do they serve?  One to ponder, but not today.


In the five weeks, I have faithfully followed each instruction and experimented with different things.  Although yesterday I was feeling poorly and really not up to running, I went out and walked the 5k, to make sure I wasn't completely copping out. When I went to write it in my journal, I realised that this was in fact the 5th time over the 5 weeks that  I have run/walked/jogged (or all three) 5k.  I have also been out in all weathers and temperatures, at all times of day and night, irrespective of how tired/fed up from the working day I have felt, and the heat rash/eczema which flares up during exercise.

So I am taking this to be my achievement- not so much the actual 5k, as I feel I've got a way to go with this, but the fact that I have stuck it out and not found excuses. 

And been brave enough to come last at a parkrun and then again at another one, and still want to go back for more (but not today). 

And tried out a different gym, and enjoyed the treadmill and competitive atmosphere of being lined up in a row, in the window, close enough to punch your neighbour while taking in the inspiring view. Which got me a medal, as I entered it for a virtual run. If I can ever get photos to line up, I deserve another medal:

I am going to give myself a week off to get well then start the plan again next week, and maybe this time, I'll be running all 5k at the end??!!  SHUT UP, VOICES....

Best of all, my daughter is loving all the sport and we've made her a medal for each time she goes out- yesterday she ran to the park, four times round it and home, which is a mile, and another badge to go on it, in addition to the 'mini parkrun' she did with Daddy while I was hauling myself round the course.

more virtual runs booked for the next few months, and a muddy 5k in July, to keep me motivated.

I've got till July to remember where I put this after the photo....

Maybe I'm not cut out (yet) for 3 mile runs, but if I can run a mile, i can keep up with my daughter. And I know I can run a mile.  

7 mile hike and no side effects

Other than an uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm for hitting the gym this week. Need to get to 2.5 miles this week as I've come up with an idiotic plan on holiday next week....plus another zombie Apocalypse nightmare last night. At least I note my survival skills are improving, if only in my sleep.

Today I will run 2 miles

There, it's official. The negative voices are having a field day with this one, I'm really scared! And yet I did 1.9 on Sunday. Got to get over it. There will be treats at the other endf in the shape of Bluetooth earphones so I don't fly off the treadmill again.…

c25k zombies

Updates since the last post:

I have signed up for a real run outside, in the world. It's not till October, it's on flat, flat Madeira drive in Brighton, I've found a friend to do it with me, and as it's the color run, we both get to have paint thrown at us. Don't care. Actually, I WANT paint thrown at me.

Have restarted training in the form of the Zombies Run 5k aop, which so far has been so gentle, I don't feel I'm doing enough. Have also had a go at doing the sessions outside with mixed results: road flatter, but off road softer, and if family present I end up having to run round a bench for most of it so as not to leave them.

Running mag has started to demoralise me. Every mention of 5k is in the context of beginners. Yes, I'm a beginner. But what's wrong with 5k as a goal? There's plenty it has to offer, improve speed, change terrain, do it alone for fun or with others in a race, etc. Going to stop reading running magazines as they're starting to make me feel 5k is a poor man's 10k and really we should all be thinking about marathons. Plus 3 people I know have done/are training for/regularly run marathons. Even if I wanted to, which I don't, I get a hour for lunch, including changing and pretending to shower...

Two morebthings: hubby has bought two sets of running shoes. Daughter is now coaching me by yelling at me to run whenever we're outside. And once again I have whatever virus is going round the nursery and so I can't pound a treadmill with a pounding head, so another week's setback. But I just got into a skirt that didn't fit last year. OK, that's about 5 things. Who's counting?

the honey heavy dew of sleep. what did Shakespeare know about insomniac toddlers?

I've been given a wonderful blogging opportunity, so I thought I'd make the most of it. Florence has given me the gift of time, aka I haven't been able to go back to sleep since she started calling for me at 4, not even when she finally realised at 5.45 that I wasn't joking about walking her to the station and putting her on the next train. Thankfully the commuters of haslemere were spared the sight of an insane mummy in pyjamas dragging snivelling child onto platform 3. Partly as most of them get the 5.32.  So after 2 hours of putting her back to bed, staying with her, going back to my bed for anything up to 30 seconds, not staying with her, not going back to bed, waking daddy up, giving up and starting the day at 5, then deciding to go back to bed, but not doing, then having several long talks about the virtues of a well-rested household, whereby a seemingly satisfactory agreement was reached, followed by a complete disregard for any promises hitherto made involving bed and the return to it, until mummy ran out of ideas and a sobbing child finally took herself back to her room, where she has remained sine 6am. I believe in parenting terms, this is deemed a 'success' and we are to repeat the process each night until she is sleeping all night without calling mummy by the time she is legally entitled to vote.

It does not help the issue that 5am in daylight terms cannot really be called 'night' despite £50 of blackout blinds from c&h in Guildford, bought in desperation last week.

The only obvious solution, I think is to get jobs as redcoats, so we can live at butlins permanently, as that seems to be the only place in the world where she stays in bed and SLEEPS.

To make things worse, last week's sleepfest has reminded my body what it feels like to be a normal person, and it doesn't want to give that up, so I am finding myself less sympathetic about giving up any shred of lunchtime or evening activity, as too knackered to do anything. I have even signed up for a run in October, which last week seemed easily achievable.

Ho hum. And potty training is a whole other story. Seems Florence is gifted in many ways, excelling at nursery in art and French, and progressing well in ballet, but all anyone wants is for her to stay in bed and not soil herself. Which is all most of us want, frankly.

I don't want to end up on morning television as the mother of the teenager in nappies...

Oh look, its nearly time to wake up. Toodle pip.

C25k more thoughts

Last week I got fed up with the endless setbacks, and the fact that this should have been goal week. I'd bought a running mag which has a different approach to the app, in that you get the longest run out of the way at the start of the session, rather than build up to it. This made more sense to me, as I had spent every session so far dreading the 'hard' bit when i'm tired. Found i could do 8 mins, then next session I set a goal of 10 and managed 12.
This was the end of following other people's plans!

At the end of the week, with nothing to lose, I decided to just get on with it and try 20 mins straight. And I managed it! Goal no 1. As I keep reading, its the first few mins that are hardest, after that I got into a rhythm and got on with it, and there was no way I was going to stop for the sake of another 3 mins, 2 mins, 1 min. I wanted the man on the treadmill next to me to know – wanted to shout “I’m doing it” and wave my arms about, but I didn’t.



And so I did it. 20 mins solid running. 1 mile and a half. Goal 1 achieved. Then I went home and discovered Goal 1 is actually 30 mins.



So this week, I thought stuff it, got nothing to lose, other than not being able to manage 20 mins ever again as it was a fluke.



And yesterday I ran for 25 min.  I now have an app - Map My Run, which is brilliant for logging runs and seeing what I’ve managed.  Husband is on it too, so we can share our walks/runs and I can ping him during the day to show min my efforts.



On Friday, if I can get 30 straight mins done, I’ve got to Goal 1 and I’ve got there before my holiday, which I seem to remember being my personal goal.  And that’s skipping out a couple of the weeks of the programme which wasn’t going anywhere and just getting on with it.



I’ve treated myself to a Fitbit as I want to know what my heartrate’s doing during the day- it’s too high at 178 on the treadmill.  Hopefully all these gadgets and apps talking to each other will give me a better picture of what exercise I’m really doing during the day, and somehow the fitbit’s going to help me lose a stone and get the trousers I saw on Saturday.



Feeling like I’m getting through the first, hard, hurdle of having it all ahead of me and being too fat and lazy to want to make it work.



Sadly, before all of this, I have to weigh myself- just waiting for my boss to go out before I nip to the chemist and stand in the window naked (nearly) for the scales to shout out the horrible truth to the whole shop.  Hoping  I overestimated it yesterday, suspect I haven’t.



I am back- I will admit this in public- I am 5 foot 2 and 12 stone 9.  Allowing 2 pounds for clothes (honestly, what’s the difference) it means I’ve put back on more than a stone since Slimming World moved their group and I stopped going.  I refuse to give them that satisfaction, so that stone is coming off for starters.  Fitbit- I need your help.



So- the goals are:



Run for 20 mins- done

Run for 30 mins -goal one part two

Run for 40 mins, which gets me to 5k and part three of goal one.

Get the 5k down to 30 mins, which is proper goal and the point where I’ll start to say “I run”

Take the 5k outside into the real world

Get the 5k down to 30 mins, which is going to take a long time, I think and will be the point at which I can say “I’m a runner” and then seal it by entering a 5k run.  And getting a medal.  I want a medal.



Last night I went for a 1.5 mile walk to see what my walking pace is, compared to treadmill.  As I have read elsewhere, the real world is much harder and I averaged 3.5mph.  That can keep.



In the meantime, I could stand to lose anything up to 4 STONE!!! So, realistically, I want to get one off, which equals a dress size and a new pair of trousers.  Some of the rest will follow, hopefully, with all this activity.



It will be interesting to see how much weight comes off by exercising, not by just dieting and hopefully this means it won’t just ping straight back on the minute I fancy a pie.

C25K. Nobody said this had to be interesting.

This is my first post on my tablet. Prefer Keyboard to tap tap tap, but apparently this is the future.

Doing it. On week 4. Have been scared for 4 weeks.
Finally think I am starting to see some results, so I want to start logging them:
Every week has had a setback. This week it's a cold. Previously, I've had trapped nerves in my arm, more colds, esp after workout sessions, and general attempts by my body to keep me on the sofa.

Have decided to stay on week 4 until my heart rate comes down from 178, so have slowed the pace right down from 6 to a weedy 4.5, making it less scary and more manageable. Eating lighter beforehand and not going as late in the day. Am also trying to have one 'free' run just to see how long I can manage. This is to get over the endless doubt that I'll get through each week or manage the next one. Really learning to hate predictive text.


Week 4 this week started OK at 9am bank hol Monday. Got the second 5 min run up to 8 mins then got a cold, 4 sleepless nights of poorly child and a busy weekend, so will start again next week. Again.

If my new smartphone ever turns up I'll try the c25k app, to see if its easier than the endless counting of seconds left on the clock.

I really hatd prdicive text

Why is it that when I'm exhausted and husband goes to sleep in baby's room to let me have a rest, I then find myself WIDE AWAKE from 4am?

And why is everyone else asleep?

Save time- have 3 bad ideas in 1 day

We went to Southampton today to pick up a doll's pushchair for Florence, so she won't keep trying to push her own one precariously along with her hands way over her head.  This was not a bad idea.

Trying to combine it with other things was:

1- allowing the sat nav to take us to where Hobbycraft ought to have been, but where, instead was something which looked like a derelict mill over a tiny bridge, with lots of Private and Keep Out signs that we refused to accept in the hopes of still finding a massive craft store somewhere amongst all this.

2- IKEA on a rainy October Sunday afternoon- it took an hour to travel a 10 mins journey, then half an hour to get into the building, by which point we were nearly but not quite, past caring.  What finished me off was finding they were out of brochures.  However, we were grateful for the baby changing room with soft lighting and comfy sofas, rendered slightly less peaceful for the 200 decibel tannoy with frequent and lengthy customer announcements. Managed to escape after spending less than a million pounds on several bath mats and an owl cushion that Florence went mental for.

3- Actually thinking a Furby was a good way to pass an hour long journey home.  Florence watched me take the back off with a screwdriver and put the batteries in then stared in horror as the thing jabbered away non-stop for the 20 mins we coped with before cracking.  She handed it back to me several times, aghast. After the batteries came out again, she had more fun playing with the screwdriver until we got home.  hoping for  a refund despite tampered with packaging. Doubt I'm the first.

Still Fat

... and now also beyond sleep deprived.  Whatever odd ramblings fall out of my head here at 1.05am, I shall keep them to laugh at one day when madame refuses to get out of bed before 2pm.

To follow up yesterday's whine about being fat, I decided to do something constructive, so got googling no-effort instant fixes for the fat.  My findings:

Lipo- I'm not paying out thousands for anything that isn't guaranteed instant permanent results, even if I had the money.  I mean by this that for the price of a luxury holiday I expect to be able to lie around all day eating custard creams and stay at one stone.  When I add together all my problem areas, ie anything above my toes, it runs into 5 figure sums. Ironic that the fees mean I could have the holiday or the bikini body but not both... Plus, OUCH.

Laser Lipo- I'm not paying out a couple of hundred a month for the rest of my life for minimal change- at that point I might as well do something radical like diet and exercise. Plus every treatment that doesn't involve general anaesthetic seems to call itself laser lipo, starting at the top with treatments that sound pretty painful and surgical to me, despite calling themselves otherwise, to the other end of the scale where someone rubs goop into you while you read a magazine, presumably to distract yourself from the fact that nothing's actually happening.

All the other lipos with their trendy names of the moment and TMs.  Basically either the first or second above, just usually impossible to find a price.

Which leaves girdles.   I'm not paying out around £100 for a bit of elastic, even if it would clearly deliver as promised and be returnable if not. Why not? No idea- probably seems too cheap and easy in the long run, plus if and when I lose those 2 stone, it wouldn't fit any more. No, I wouldn't need it, but that's not the point, or is it? If only I could get a compression garment for my brain.

Which leaves - holding my stomach in, or the Tupler Technique, as it's called for a DVD and price. Breathe in.

Fat

I've got a dear friend coming over today and we're both a bit down in the dumps, so I thought I'd take it up a notch and weigh myself.  And I was right- the jeans haven't shrunk; I've crept back over the Xstone mark.

So I still have a stone to lose (two if I'm honest, but one would do very nicely thank you).

Here are my excuses/whinges:

I haven't had a full night's sleep for 5 months, in fact I haven't had more than 4 hours' continuous sleep in that time- it's usually 2 and at the moment I'm lucky and getting 3.  When I get up, therefore, I feel beyond tired, I feel like I'm running on empty and desperately need fuel to get through the day.

I tried cutting back and immediately felt even more dizzy than I do normally, which alarms me, since I'm in charge of a person all day.

I'm still b-feeding.  That might make a difference?

Whenever I can, I go for long walks, 3 miles or so.  Then it snows again and scuppers it, or at best pours down with rain, which is not particularly conducive to pushing a pram about.

Did I mention that I'm REALLY tired?  I'm also stressed- there's a lot going on: the house, jobs, car trouble, basically every aspect of my 'life' is out of my control, very expensive and very stressful. 

Here is my motivation:

I have a friend coming over to the UK in July who I haven't seen for years and years.  She used to be a big girl, but now has 4 children and has started running a lot of marathons, so she's now stick thin and muscly.  I don't want to be a blob when we meet and there's 3 months between now and then.

I threw out a ton of clothes that I love last night- I was really upset to do so, but more upset to find they don't go anywhere near me.  Clearly, hanging on to them for when I'm thin again hasn't worked, and I don't like buying fat clothes, so it's this one pair of stretch jeans until the situation improves.  I couldn't bear to throw out one top which took ages to knit, so I hope that might motivate me as well. It's this one- not the best photo, but behold waist.  And I've just discovered you can copy and paste on this thing...



Half the clothes I slung out were awful- they did for the office as I wasn't seen, but not how I want to be seen by new employers/collegues.  Most of the skirts were just there because they went round me, which is not good enough!

I don't think I eat vast amounts of things, just that they tend to be fatty, like cheese and salami to fill me up quickly, and I have to grab a bit when I can, so a sandwich or toast is quickest.  And food never seems to fill me up.  And other than making a decision to go out for a walk, including baby preparation time of half an hour, I don't really move around- I'm sitting with my eyes on her or sitting feeding her, or standing changing her, but as I can't let her out of my sight, there's no option for running around, other than getting dinner ready in 10 seconds flat.

I wish I had a plan, but if I lost a pound a week I'd be a stone lighter and a size smaller in time for friend's arrival, but even if I lost half that, I'd fit my one pair of jeans and not hang over the top of them, and definitely look better than I do now.

So- inconclusive.

I think this proves I have absolutely nothing to say...

...because I'm going to talk about crinkle.  I understand crinkle enhances a toy into becoming a stimulating sensory experience, but I put it to you that there is a a) time and b) a place for such stimulation and a) whilst falling asleep and b) in a pillow is not it/are not they ( I seem to have fallen into a syntax black hole).

So, much as we love the jungle themed baby gym, we were less than enamoured with Mr Lion's crinkly pillow mane, especially after watching little one complete a full and stimulating workout, to then drift gently into a nap, then be rudely awakened every single time she moved one atom of her being in the general direction of the crinkle.

Mr Lion underwent emergency surgery at dawn one sleep-deprived morning, and has never troubled us since.  It was for the best.

So, what have we learned?

We have learned that setting a one-week deadline to achieve things does not achieve those things, but instead leads us to avoid posting anything since August.


We are therefore going to draw a line under projects achieved and non, and move on.

Canopy and bumpers for the crib- sort of finished, as far as I need them at the moment

 Negroni Shirt- done...eventually.

 Knickers - not one but two pairs done, ACTUALLY

Swaddle bag - done, partial success, some fitting 'issues', but technically completed and since abandoned.

 Drill pouch - done

 Bedroom blind - what was I THINKING????

Chisel cosy - maybe in another lifetime. Not mine.

Actually, that's not too bad, now that I come to look at it.

I have two baby Xmas projects underway and so the new deadline for those is obviously looming.  They've been on the go since October in 5 min sessions when I can.  Hopefully the end is nigh on both counts.

Unfeasible plan for next week

After the Ravellenics, I suddenly found myself with NOTHING to knit.  No idea how this is possible, other than I have a million clothes and nothing to wear and my current situation is following the same laws of physics.

Anyway, I thought this would be a chance to get back into sewing and if I do one project a day, I'll be pretty much clear to get back into knitting stress again the following week.  How we'll laugh that I still believe this is possible.

Today- Canopy and bumpers for the crib, as she's likely to start sleeping in there from tonight as we all keep waking each other up with our respective noise and it's way too hot in the room with the door shut, but if it's open, she stares madly at the light outside and wakes with the dawn.  This way, she'll sleep and I get to listen out for her all night from further away...

Saturday- getting the buttons finally onto Rich's Negroni Shirt.

Sunday- Sewing a pair of  Knickers - the hardest part will be deciding which size I think I am.

Monday-making a swaddle bag as she's growing out of her swaddle pod, none of the other designs are what I want, and our sleep depends on this.

Tuesday- Parents over, so will try to get elastic onto Rich's drill pouch today or tomorrow

Wednesday- friend over, so unlikely to get anything done- especially the bedroom blind on my list.

Thursday - chisel cosy to go with spanner cosy- saving the best for last.

less than 12 hours to fail to get the first project done...

Craft since the birth- the good, the bad, and the overambitious

Well, life has changed somewhat since the last post.

I have got behind with blogging, and therefore have stopped putting on new posts as I have old posts backing up.  It's lovely that this is all I have to worry about, really.

So- today I am going to put up everything I've managed to make since the little one came along, then I will put up a list of overambitious projects I intend to do.  We shall see if I manage to do any of this before the week is out....

1- I did manage to find a use for the leftover denim from the maternity skirt- it's gone into being a haphazardly made tissue box cover, as yet unfinished, and a prototype for a birthday present for my mother.

2- The spanner cosy.  Rich desperately needed a spanner cosy (what man doesn't) and as I was about to go away for a week to rest, guilt got the better of me and it was completed somewhere after midnight, long after husband and baby had gone to bed.  I had to tiptoe into the bedroom midst their respective snoring, which was almost more than I could bear.  It is not my best work. It is finished.  The thread also decided to snap every couple of inches, which I haven't fathomed out a reason for yet, other than cheap IKEA thread, nasty IKEA fabric, ancient needle in machine, or the need for a service.  Anyway, it works, he loves it and I think it complements his manliness:

The picture has decided to turn itself around while uploading, yet is fine on the pc.  I have no clue what to do about this and would rather move on with my life, frankly.  Tutorial and superior spanner cosies here: soresourceful

3- Tissue box holder - For my mother's birthday, to go with her green living room and accent plum cushion.  And to have fun with buttons- really good fun to make, so much so that I even lined the thing.  The fabric and buttons came from a phone call to The Eternal Maker, which is safer than going in and still being there in open-mouthed wonder until being asked to leave.  And I took the opportunity to try a bound buttonhole for the opening, with no thought to the irony of buttons, buttons everywhere and not one to go through the buttonhole.  Tutorial here

Now- the toys.  These vary depending on sleep deprivation. However, they're done, so they're going on the list.

4- Timmy.  Love this- I'd all but finished it on the bus while still at work, but seeing that baby liked high contrast things to stare at gave me motivation to finish it.  Still needs a dummy, but I don't like the one on the pattern, so still hunting around.  I also changed the eyes to look like Timmy's and stuffed the ears slightly.  My greatest success over the last few weeks, I'd say.

I'm not even going to attempt to get these photos to line up- I'm typing on borrowed time as it is- very soon duty will call, loudly...

5- the ball that looks more like a brain.  I don't care- she likes it and it's saved me trying to make another load of squares into a garish jacket for her.

My first attempt at weaving on the Martha Stewart Knit and Weave Loom

and here is what was going to be a ball, but I couldn't be bothered, so it looks more like a brain, but she can grab it and stare at it, so I feel my work here is done.

6- Shaun the sheep mobile- I've waited years for an excuse to knit this.  Currently waiting for mother to put the faces on them, then I'll do the hats and scarves, but at least the sheep are done:



7- Sailor jumper- knitted in a week - I changed the wool from DK to chunky to make it quicker, but it's a bit stiff and shapeless and I can't afford to have any less shape at the moment.  Will probably knit it into a jacket next year.  Quite impressed by the wool- Wendy Supreme Chunky- nice sheen and doesn't dry your hands like most cotton. Under no illusion that I look like the Phildar lady...

8- and finally- the dreaded Mason Dixon After Dark Robe.  This was supposed to use up a ton of Louet flax yarn I'd bought years ago, and be a bath robe for the birth centre.  Even if I had got to the birth centre, it was still 10 weeks too late, but in fairness, I did carry my project bag around the hospital under the delusion that I would finish it while in labour....  So, not only did it only use up half of the yarn, I had to make the borders separately as I only have one ball of each colour, and one side is one badly, so has sagged.  But mostly I can blame the pattern- there's something wrong with the shoulders, so it doesn't sit right.  My options are to redo it with a similar pattern, or make it into something that doesn't have to fit, to use it all up, eg a Mason Dixon Big Dotty pattern on a throw.  Except I don't need a throw and don't know how big it will knit up, so stressing about that already....

How to make a maternity skirt for about a fiver

Going to brave the photo formatting once again and see if I can get a comprehensible 'How To' out before insanity strikes.

I managed to make a couple of skirts with belly bands attached, for pennies, thanks to various US blogs, so thought I'd put up my version of events. 

Really wanted a denim skirt for the spring/summer, seeing as jeans don't fit at the best of times, and this is not the best of times. 

First thing to look for- make sure the skirt is widest to go around your widest part, wherever that happens to be now, and that it will still be long enough if cut under your bump at this point.

So here it is: yes it IS very large and saggy.

Here's the point where the belly band is going to be attached:

 

The belly band.  I got a nice piece of jersey, as time was against, me, but it would be even cheaper and easier to get an old T-shirt the same width as you want the band, so you'd just have to slice it up, with no measuring, cutting out and no side seams.

 The blogs I followed said to use the measurements from an existing garment with belly band, which meant no guesswork and no wondering which bits to measure.  I made mine a tiny bit larger for ease with one piece of jersey twice the height needed, plus hem, and joined at the side to make a tube.  I used the softest waistband elastic I could find, which turned out to be buttonholing, made a circle large enough to stretch over the bump, but small enough to sit comfortably above or below, without cutting or falling down:

Next job is attaching all the bits: fold the jersey over, pin the elastic up into the fold and stitch with a stretchy stitch

 .

Then, using the new pins you used this as an excuse to buy

Pin and sew band to skirt and neaten seam, again using a stretch stitch and stretching the band slightly to fit snugly,

taking care not to stitch over any pins,

and that's it! I think the whole thing took under half an hour. The skirt's been transformed from a big long droopy thing, to a just below the knee full skirt that has proved essential for weekends and 'smarter' slobbing around at home.

Only thing I'd change now is that as the bump has got bigger, the band wants to sit below it, which means if I'm not wearing the right top, letting it all hang out, which is not my thing, or ride up above it, which is fine unless there's anyone else or a mirror around, as what this does is put all the fullness of the skirt around my widest point and it's the lampshade effect all over again.  

A longer band would have corrected this, but how was I to know- and it's certainly not information I will be able to use again in future.  Ever.

You could also just make a taller belly band and use it to fill the gap between tops riding up and bottoms riding down, for a fraction of what they cost to buy, just neatening up the bottom, rather than attaching it to a skirt. Again, too late now, possibly.  Well, by the time I got round to doing it, it certainly would be. 

Next stop is to finish Rich's shirt that seemed like a really good idea at the time....

 

Finally- I kept the cut off part of the skirt- why???