Pant Rant Part Two: Ok, so yesterday I wear my NEW, snazzy, bought at Macy's "Charter Club" black jeans. They have some spandex in them and look pretty good--I got some compliments on how "stylish" I looked, (which I'm sure for some of my friends and colleagues was a shocker). BUTT, the first thing I notice is the waist dips down in the back. Just low enough for someone to catch a glimpse of the tops of my underwear, or, as one of my colleagues said when I mentioned my annoyance in the faculty lounge, "That's to display your tattoo." Ya know I would like to regulate for myself who gets to see my underwear, and if I'm going to show someone my underwear they at least have to buy me dinner first! Then, all throughout the day when I washed my hands I was noticing how dirty the rinse water looked. "Boy my office must be might dusty" I thought. Well, this morning when I'm taking a shower I notice that my thighs are also kinda grey looking. Seems my 36 dollar pants musta had their dye spray painted on or some such thing, because it is rubbing off on everything. Even today when I spilled some water on my pants and went to dry it off with a paper towel, it turned grey. And I haven't even washed them yet! Who knows how they will turn out in the wash. If they fade out I am taking them back! G-d knows what substance they used to dye them with back in China too!! I can't win for loosing.

Hi oil painter, Do you figure that your sewing machine would jump up and down and scream if a man were to touch it? Maybe it's time for hubs to think about learning to sew so that he can sew his own seams. You could suggest that it sure would be a helpful skill for him to have following your death. If that doesn't make an impression, or move him ... ... suggest that it would be an equally useful skill following a divorce. Otherwise ... teach him how to make and install pie crust and tell him that he must put the pie crusts together (or take on another boring job that's usually considered female's work) if he wants you to do favours for him. Especially if you're a work-outside-the-home (i.e. WOTH as contrasted to a SAH) Mom. Since hemming pants are often cosidered females' work, don't be surprised if he looks you in the eye and claims that you're just being lazy and trying to fob off some of "your jobs" on others. I've been patching jeans, overalls, coveralls, a work jacket and a shirt or two around here, by both machine and hand, in recent months, as gardening is a bit rough on pants. It gets more complicated when one has to split leg-seams in order to access the holey knees. And that's doubled in spades when both seams are of the double orange threaded kind: my machine has only one needle. I did manage to sew one back pocket to the seat, rather than just attaching the patch to the original pocket material flap, a while ago ... decided that I didn't want to operate with a shallow pocket, so pulled that seam! Hi colorcrazy, When I looked at your fifth instruction, I saw that you wanted to mark the leg a couple of inches below the new fold. Then at 6 you say to cut at the new fold ... didn't you mean to cut at the place that you'd just said to make the mark, a couple of inches lower? ___________________ By the way, I've become quite friendly with a neighbour couple of retired farmers where the wife has counselled me on my sewing machine difficulties ... and they gave me a new pair of overalls at their family party on Christmas eve. I have three or four pairs of jeans in various stages of repair here, which is one of my major winter projects ... ... plus I got enough end of denim at the fabric store to make a new pair, I think ... ... so it looks as though I won't be able to die for three or four years, till I get some of them worn out! Good wishes for a fine New Year ... at the end of which you can say that you've got all of the loose ends of your projects all sewn up. ole joyful

Thanks to everyone. I just got back from the trip. After ordering and returning several pairs of women's pants, where the pockets were too shallow for practicality, or the rise was too low, or the pockets made me look baggy, or the fabric contained spandex (too hot for the desert where I was going), I was out of time. I will look into the tactical pants when I have more time, but ordering and returning was getting very frustrating. Following raven cajun’s practical suggestion, what I ended up buying in-store the week before I left, were men's rip-stop 100% cotton pants, Wrangler’s. They had both deep front pockets and flattish cargo pockets which were not the gusseted puffy looking kind. I had to buy them large enough to accommodate a woman's derriere (not large by any means, but larger than a man's), then take them in at the waistband. I can sew and tailor, but even for someone with few skills in this area; it was very easy and fast to do, and could be done by hand if needed. (I mention this in case someone else needs to take the same route.) I ordered one pair of Cherokee black cotton scrubs with lots of pockets from Amazon, and sewed snaps into 2 of the pockets. Those were my “dress” pants, LOL. In the evening I doubt anyone could even see that I was bristling with pockets. I HAD bought 1 pair of women's cargo pants from L. L. Bean that fit (which were on sale but 3 x the price of the men's pants I bought locally), but only wore them once. They have spandex and were much too hot. The front pockets were too shallow to hold anything but a folded Kleenex without being afraid it would fall out when sitting. I will add a deeper pocket liner to those later to make them longer inside. The cargo pockets on the leg of those were fine. I also ordered a ScottEvest, a lightweight jacket version, but did not use it on this trip. It was always too hot. I’m sure I can use that later.

I can spend more time shlepping around and trying things on a store than it will take me to sew up my favorite pattern. Now, it is all so hard to do and the fitting room with clothing that may have been on the bodies of others is under such deep suspicion. Even before the virus, I would put a layer of protection between my body and the pants that I tried on in the store. I did that to protect me from others and to protect others from me. I would use a new and clean "light day" pad placed on the outer layer of my undergarments to keep a barrier. People are afraid of touching each other or getting within breathing range, so why try on clothes that others have had intimate contact with? That does not make any sense in these times. In normal times, we rationalize it out. I have a few pairs of ready made pants, but they are only for back up and I rarely ever reach for them. I have not been into a department store since last winter. I don't even know it the fitting rooms are even open here where I live.