Flight, Collaboration Part 2 of 2

Here’s part 2 of my collaboration with Fabric Anthropology (aff link) source of the main fabrics I’m working with here that are available for preorder through 10/21/2018. Park 1 was my lingerie set for Fights & Feelings; let’s talk about Flight today. It seems to be a theme for me, and it’s one of my points of healing that I’m working on. What I love best about this inspiration outfit is that it directly speaks to a piece of my soul. The piece that communes in the mountains, seeks solace in the punishment of a challenging trail, and embraces the healing of a hot salt bath after a hard descent. It’s embodied in the movement of the birds on the fabric, it looks a little ragged, and it feels free.

Whenever I have 6+ hours to myself on a fair-weather day, I pick a trail that will log me 7-15 miles and hit it solo. There are few things I love more than going out with a full pack and an empty day. I don’t consider myself a peak bagger- I love the views from the top, but I show up for the roots, dappled shade, and peace. Sometimes I’m slow, sometimes I’m fast, but whenever I can be, it’s just me and the quiet crunch of boots on dirt.

The fur-lined vest is the showpiece of this outfit. I knew I needed something special for the fur, and reached out to Shannon Fabrics. They sent me some incredible sample minky yardage and I fell hard for this platinum glam, especially paired with the birds. I chose the Willa Vest by Laela Jeyne as my base pattern, knowing I was going to hack it to pieces to get the quilted effect and fitted silhouette I was going for. It took some finessing to get things just right, but I love how it turned out. The hood is detachable, and the fur is incredibly soft.

I modified this pattern enough that it’s hard to describe and harder to recreate – I broke the princess seam pieces into panels, backed a few of them with flannel and quilted them before piecing the vest together. I shaped the hem to be more curved and made space for the fur on the side hems. I narrowed the shoulders, shortened the armscye, and took in the side seams significantly to add shaping and make the fit overall much more slim. I added eyelets and corset-style lacing to the center back as well. I love the 3-piece hood exactly as is, and made no changes.

It was just starting to drizzle as Chris and I set out for pictures – you can see my hair getting progressively bigger from here.

Seriously, I died over this minky. This is how great it looks after a pre-wash, – the silvering clumps a bit like feathers, and it’s very soft.

The quilted detailing on some of the panels is hard to capture, as is the partial fur hem. Truly, I love how this came together and I’ll be wearing it a ton this fall, though it’s impractical for actual trails.

The second part of the outfit was the pants. I had been eyeing the Bryce Cargoes by Hey June Handmade since long before Adriana actually released them. There was a sneak peak of darted knees on Instagram and I knew I needed them, pronto. This project was just the excuse I needed to make up my first pair. I want to be extra clear that yes, this style of pants is well-suited to hiking – I feel a good range of movement, the waist is secure, and the pockets functional and spacious – this particular pair is definitely not hitting the trails. This is 97-100% mid-weight cotton, with some lycra content for stretch. Very comfortable overall, but cotton is *not* your friend for hiking pants. I have some nylon Taslan that I’ve been hoarding that I will use for a proper pair next – breathable, wicking, water-repellent, and quick-drying with just enough stretch. I’ll probably add some elastic to the back waistband, and consider knit cuffs for the ankles to help keep debris out of my boots.

I sewed up a straight size 10 for waist and hips, and shortened the length in three places – rise, thighs, and calves. They came out perfect! (I’m 5’1″ for the record)

The final element of this outfit is the bag – I wanted a high capacity backpack with lots of functional pockets and comfortable straps. I went back and forth on a few patterns and settled on the Ralph by IThinkSew. It was a close match to the inspiration, with some modifications including adding a zip pocket to the flap, ignoring the flap darts, and changing the closure. The construction ended up being surprisingly simple, even with adding an internal pocket for my hydration bladder and a pass-through over a strap for the tube. Again, it’s not particularly practical for hiking- it’s well-interfaced for structure which makes it too heavy. But it’s comfortable, spacious enough as a weekender, and rugged enough to take a decent beating. I used a mix of all three prints, and I really love the finished product.