And I'ld like to Thank the Academy...

I knit. I can sew too. Why then, do I buy items that need to be altered?
The lovely saleslady (ooohhh, she's good) puts together some fabulous ensembles and points out that really it is better to go with the bigger size so that it doesn't 'pull' so much where 'we' don't want it to. Sweet as anything she says these things, and then she tells you about the wonderful lady that does alterations for them. Well, been there; done that...and was completely surprised by what people think is an acceptable job of 'fitting'. So, "No, no, I can do it", is what comes out of my mouth, because I can take a waist in no problem.
Here is the lovely waist on the purchased item.

Lovely, non?

Here is what I do to it to do a 'proper' job of taking in the waist...a smidgen...(4 inches; that's how much room the hips need not to "pull"); kinda scary.

Here are the tools needed to achieve this bit of seamstressness. Note the big honkin' magnifying light! Think about it; drizzly day, black skirt, black thread and bifocals in need of a an upgrade! It's been pointed out to me that I'm officially 'old'. Sigh.

I was feeling pretty good about the whole endeavor when I started out before lunch. Thinking how much I appreciate my mom teaching me how to sew and remembering her helping me with my first few projects. One of my favourites was to not pay attention to front and back sleeve markings and put the right sleeve in the left armhole and vise a versy, and cuffs only made the whole undertaking that much more enjoyable.

I was thankful for my snazzy sewing machine. My husband is a hardworking and smart business man.

I was thankful for my knitting/sewing friends that helped me mark my new skirt and pants so they would fit better.

I was happily rip, rip, ripping and then I came to the last part of the waistband that I wanted to undo before taking it in and putting it all back together again. My eyes were starting to really bother me because every time I ripped I knocked the magnifying light and wiggled my vision, not unlike motion sickness. I ran into some kind of knotting system that was used in the making of said garment and, I kid you not, I had the relaxation Zen music playing, trying to stay in my 'happy place' and I found myself...

Lamaze breathing. You know, hehehe, hahaha, hehehe, hahaha. It helped. Good time to take a break.

I went and had some lunch...low blood sugar and sewing never go well together, turned on The Young and The Restless and went back to work on my skirt.

There. A good three hours worth of sewing and she's all put back together. It fits. I'm wearing it tomorrow and I'm not sewing it tomorrow.

Wow. Yea, buying it was so much more time efficient!!!