Weird Ass Kitchen Window

I have a weird ass kitchen window and I thought you crafty/creative ladies could help me out with what to do here. My house was born in 1981 and so it’s bit dated. It has VERY WHITE walls, dark trim, and a kitchen with oak cabinets (*shudder). I really have to level with you here. For those of you who are long time readers, you should already know I can get shit done when I need to. But, I have no creativity. None. At. All. Really. I could look at a picture and copy it. I can embellish with the best of them but only as long as I have  a photo to copy. I’m horrible at coming up with anything on my own. Hence my problem here. I recently bought this house and am trying to figure out how to un-80’s-fy it. We are starting by painting. The walls will be tan and the trim will be painted white. The brass fixtures (*shudder again) will go. The almond outlet covers will go. Here’s a basic layout of my house. It’s very poorly drawn. I did it freehand in Paint.net. It would have looked better if I had just drawn it with a pencil and taken a picture of it. Anyhoo, I’ve got this window that opens between the kitchen and the main living area. To put it bluntly, it’s just weird. People always look at it with this strange look on their faces when they first come to my house. It’s in a weird spot and it’s just plain weird to have it there.

I was going to add “Front door” to my drawing but forgot. Oopsie. It’s the darker squiggly mark at the bottom of the picture.

 

When I moved in, they had a fabric curtain that hung on the kitchen side of the window to cover the back of the microwave. It sort of looked like this. Still weird.

 

I’ve tried to take pictures from far back in the room so you can see just how weird it is. I hung wine glasses in the top and I like that. The other shelves always look cluttered though and I’m not sure that’s the first thing I want people to see when they walk in my house.

 

 

Do I add a full length curtain? Still weird.

 

 

Do I hang a large piece of art over it? It’s a good option but it’s in a weird place in the room for a large piece of art. I should also mention the ceilings in this room are tall, like 20’ tall in this particular spot. Having something so close to the floor with just a tall space seems weird. 

 

 

This is just to give you a idea how the new wall paint and trim will look. Although it kind of presents a problem. The other side is in the kitchen with all the oak cabinets. I can’t really have white trim and oak shelves on one side and oak cabinets on the other side. The shelves would have to be half white (to match the outside wall) and oak (to match the kitchen). 

 

 

This is what it looks like now. I added to picasso painting a long time ago to be funny. It makes me laugh anyway. You can see the hated oak cabinets through the window.

 

 

Here’s what it looks like from the kitchen side. Here you can see the cabinets. Not only are they the 80s oak cabinets but they are the oak cabinets with the arch on the top. Ugh! I need to figure out what to do there too. I don’t want an expensive remodel but I might try painting them or something. That’s another project for another day. Today, I want to figure out what to do with this weird opening.

If I can figure something out, I think I’d like to keep the area somewhat open. It actually lets quite a bit of light in the kitchen (the other side faces the door and it’s facing south) and I like to be able to peek out of it when someone is at the door.

So? Ladies? Any thoughts? Ideas??

Okay, what about this?

Thank you guys for the comments. I realize that most people just click away when they see something with which they don't agree. I do the same thing sometimes because I don't want to offend or make someone feel bad. I really appreciate the feedback and I'm not offended at all. I have a thick skin and I've never worn cropped pants before. Okay, taking your comments into consideration, I made two shorter mock-ups. If you consider the first pictures "long" then this would be the medium length. I do think it looks better. I didn't want to go short-short with the cropped pants because they are supposed to be 7/8 length pants. That's what Burda says anyway.


This would be the shorter length.



Here's a composite of the three lengths so you can compare (you'll have to click to see the whole thing). Do you think I need to go even shorter?!?

Thanks for the advice!

ETA: So I just did a search on cropped pants and came up with this article at www.youlookfab.com. The top three cropped pants are "safer" than the bottom three choices. It looks like I'm trying to attempt one of the "riskier" lengths. Maybe I'll try a much shorten version and see what you think.

Help with cropped pant length . . .

These are BWOF 06/2009 #112. I talked about them here. Beth had asked how tall I was because I said I'm not tall. I'm about 5'5" so I'm the average height for US women. I'm wearing 2" cork wedges in this photo. I looked at the BWOF model photo to pick my shoes. I made these pants shorter and longer and I think this is the best length. What do you think? Obviously when I do the real cuffs they will not be all crooked like this. I didn't realize my pin job was so bad until I looked at these photos.


This is my first time makes inseam pockets. I'll take some pictures of those when I do the real review.



I love that BWOF fits my butt with very little alteration.

So, good length?

Burda 06-2008-104 Trousers

I just made these up yesterday and today. They are comfortable and fit well. I have crotch wrinkles though. It sounds like I have a disease doesn't it? On the plus side, my RTW pants fit me like this so I know I'm close.

Here are the icky wrinkles.


The back fits well. I had to take in about an inch above my posterior.


They have a wide waistband which I like. No more peeking at my undies for other people.


Snaps are fun. Love them. Enable me so I will buy this snap press. Tell me how cool snaps are. Please?


I added slight flairs to the bottoms on the pants using my Jalie 2000 pattern.


The true color. They are green outside but brown inside.

So I Know These Are Duds . . .

. . . when no one comments (actually, two people did comment, thanks!). Come on people! They make my legs look huge and I look about 3 feet tall when wearing them. I can't say much because I do the same thing. When I see some serious fugly I rarely comment because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But seriously, that width, on me? No.

I drastically reduced the width of the pants (about 5" in each leg) from top to bottom and I think they are much better. I took off the old pockets and made new flaps. I interfaced a single layer of fabric and just stitched it on. It is no longer a loop. I figured if I stitched them directly to the pants, there would be less flaring. To combat the wide, wide legs, I continued the pleat all the way down to the hem. This gets rid of the hem and the poofy front thigh thing. I know that was a "design feature" but it didn't work with this fabric. Now I am debating whether to topstitch all the way to the hem or to do that abbreviated topstitching to upper thigh. What do you think? I put some lines in for reference. I may still take a bit of width out of the knee area.

Okay, now what do you think?? Really, comment even if you hate them. Especially if you hate them! The pleats are sewn with a basting stitch right now.

I am going to start working on 06/2008 #105 while I ponder the pants. After I topstitch I just have to hem them and add buttons (or snaps)!

Four Year Olds Talk a Lot . . .

And yesterday while my son was rambling to me I accidently cut the seam allowances off the back of my new Burda WOF pants!!!!! All is not lost however; I was making them in stretch twill. It seems the twill had barely enough stretch to accomodate for no seam allowances. Actually, I didn't cut the entire SA off, just the top 3-4 inches. You would be proud, I didn't even cuss.

I am currently working on Burda 06/125. It is the pants with the tab belt (?) and the pleat in the thigh. This is my first BWOF pant so I was very interested to see how it would fit. They fit really well but they would have fit better if I had a SA to work with. I knew I would have to do a small swayback adjustment, I just ended up making a big adjustment.


This is the picture that sold me on the pants. They look kind of slim through the knee area right? Yeah, not really, these must be pinned because these really have big ol' legs. I should have looked closer at the line drawing.



So here's the question: Do I take out inches of fabric between mid-thigh and calf?? I think the wide leg makes me look a bit squat. Of course, it could also be the 6" of extra fabric at the hem. I am wearing heels and I'm 5'5". I'm not that short. I have not understitched the facing so it is a bit lumpy.


You can see that it looks like I have large front thighs. It is just the pleat sticking out. You can tell the upper butt/lower back region is little snug.


Also, I need BIG TIME help with the inside. I realized as I was putting on the facing that I have never made pants with a fly without a waistband. How do you finish the inside nicely? Is there a tutorial or a post on that? I will add a fly facing to the inside but didn't want to deal with it yet. It might help me make a smooth transistion from the fly to the pants. I tried reading BWOF instructions but it was a bit like Greek.







Well, what do you guys think? Keep the width or remove it? I know that wide leg pants are coming in (or are they gone already?) but these seem excessive.

First Up Vogue 7283

In this post I showed you guys what I bought on eBay. Well the package arrived today and I couldn't stop myself from cutting into a muslin already. I am going to try this one first.




The description on the back is semi-fitted A-line dress has short raglan sleeves; jewel neckline or bias standing collar. Pockets in front seams. Self belt variations. I am making the collarless version.


This pattern is in great shape for being 30-40 years old.



I did my usual (I love being able to say that) adjustment of shortening the length between neck and bust by 1/2". Since this is a princess seamed dress, I had to do it 4 times. Front, side front, back, sleeve.


YUCK. This pattern is supposed to be for bust 32". My bust is either a 31" or 32" depending on when I measure. This pattern is way too big for me. I can grab inches of fabric. Like 4-6 inches of fabric.

So here is the big question, where do I take all that extra room from? Below is the seaming on the front. The lines are approximate because it is darn hard to see where the seam are on this fabric. If I mess with the princess seams I'll have to mess with the sleeves. But maybe that is okay since that dart is wonky anyway.

Freaking Pictures

Anyonw know how to make the pictures all line up? Does anyone read this? I'm thinking no. But this is a good way to vent frustrations. I know some html so I was messing with that but t'ain't working yet.