Conquering my Fear of Tights and Leggings

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Every woman has body issues.  I know I'm not alone.  My biggest body peeve is my legs.  I'm really pear-shaped, carrying most of my excess body weight between my naval and knees.  I'm predisposed to varicose and spider veins that show up brilliantly on my pale skin as well.  Needless to say, I rarely wear shorts in public, and never short skirts or skinny jeans.

When I was offered free pairs of No nonsense tights and leggings, I was dubious as to whether I'd get any use out them.  Why would a gal who wears capris all summer and pants all winter ever need tights or leggings?  Then I think to the side of my closet housing my meager collection of long skirts and dresses that I rarely ever wear.  Maybe some tights or leggings are just what I need to bring a couple more outfits into my wearable rotation.  Maybe.

I received some basic black leggings and a pair of burgundy tights with a subtle pattern.  I had no choice in the colors, so I felt rather fortunate I didn't get the red leggings or the yellow tights.  Lucky me!  

The leggings fit well and were very comfortable to wear.  They were thankfully opaque--not remotely resembling the footless tights I see some ladies wearing.  This is the outfit I came up with for the leggings:

The tights were very easy to slide on, fit great, and I loved the subtle pattern on them.  I've never worn anything like them and am pleasantly surprised at how feminine they make me feel.  This is the outfit I come up with for the tights:

No nonsense tights and leggings are super cheap, high quality, and can be found at all the department stores as well as food and drug stores.  Style icon, Jill Martin, has partnered with No nonsense and tells about her love of No nonsense tights in this one minute video:

Jill Martin literally wrote the book on fashion for the everyday woman: "I Have Nothing to Wear!" was co-authored by Martin and was on the NY Times bestsellers list.  She looks familiar too, right?  She's the Emmy-winning NY Correspondent for Access Hollywood, so that's where you've likely seen her before.  I love how she calls the colored tights "lipstick for your legs"!!!  

In the video, none of the tights are patterned.  My pair of tights look like this close-up:

The diamond crosshatching pattern is a cool effect.  It gives your legs some curvy dimension like fishnet stockings do, but without the vampy-sexy effect.  

You can find No nonsense on Facebook and like their page.  It's a great place to see all the colors and styles available.  It's worth checking out to see the latest giveaways and coupons.  The No nonsense twitter page will keep you up to date on fashion trends and special offers as well.  

Winners: Ring Your Neck Scarf Challenge!

And the winners are......

November was a busy month for everyone, but that didn't stop 19 people from signing up for my challenge and giving it go.  Sending big hugs and thank yous to everyone who signed up!  You all make these challenges fun and engaging, and I just love you for it!

I challenged you to make a scarf and trying something new in the process.  15 lovely participants were able to meet the challenge!  Congratulations to the 15 who met the challenge!  We ended up with 15 unique and wonderful scarves to enter into the voting portion of the challenge.  

Without further ado, the results are:

In first place, receiving the most votes, is Marisa from  Passion et Couture with her striking scarf made with a technique using water soluble stabilizer.  

Congrats Marisa!  Your bragging rights have been activated!

Here's a shiny new badge for your blog:

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/12/vote-ring-your-neck-scarf-challenge.html" title="Congrats Marisa!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3X7XBiGqQ_jk1I2chMxxkoeaGTc6Ues9GY6XmG4xMlQNubAzIxT3opLqlfLOr4NsKz4TiI66qCkkpxUx2QTfr3oXzmI1uMjYhdzGxvpcE5vC5bQIp-X83-43Hfr1hk1mQVJhz7Un7Dw/s1600/agold.jpg" alt="Congrats Marisa!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

In second place, we have a tie!  

Linda from Desert Designs with her chenille scarf and Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches receive second place honors!

Congrats Linda!  Your bragging rights have been activated!

You might not have a blog to show it off, but here's your shiny badge all the same:

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/12/vote-ring-your-neck-scarf-challenge.html" title="Congrats Linda!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUIfGV6sDDnfiwkRF7parW5_xWRo93HRg6wJL3xPS55_1elH3qb4GD8CY-3HT6W6rWvkooi-UXMU7_vT8NQ1ya5fJ0c7CPftCrOCG2St5A_IHtQIQ3RUMk4CRVDyxBUZcuHHitNOkSTg/s1600/asilver.jpg" alt="Congrats Linda!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Congrats Fiona!  Your bragging rights have been activated!

If you wish, you may display this shiny new badge on your blog:

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/12/vote-ring-your-neck-scarf-challenge.html" title="Congrats Fiona!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUIfGV6sDDnfiwkRF7parW5_xWRo93HRg6wJL3xPS55_1elH3qb4GD8CY-3HT6W6rWvkooi-UXMU7_vT8NQ1ya5fJ0c7CPftCrOCG2St5A_IHtQIQ3RUMk4CRVDyxBUZcuHHitNOkSTg/s1600/asilver.jpg" alt="Congrats Fiona!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

In third place we have Signe from Skaberlyst with her collage-style scarf!

Congrats Signe!  Your bragging rights have been activated!

Here's a shiny new badge just for you:

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/12/vote-ring-your-neck-scarf-challenge.html" title="Congrats Signe!"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo4UPKF5c2WaSAsxdD18XhiZ1vvBFw2HH81Dq9USQEdS3a0Nv-WOvoDlQ8zYoXK1p5KXX9sJRTg2BnZWGgrh89E0Qz6w2w9BHadr4v5RrtiDdxZIyJT2n1Nr7QB5FonEapMqEBg3S0JDM/s1600/abronze.jpg" alt="Congrats Signe!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Challenging ourselves to learn new skills and to meet our commitments are noble and admirable qualities.  I applaud all the participants for all their hard work and dedication during a super busy time of year.  Everyone was stretched thin, that I was getting pretty worried near the end of November.  But with 15 finished projects, we have so many reasons to be proud!  Congrats and thank you again!

Happy crafting and big hugs from frosty Montana,

Before you click away, I'd like to invite you to join in my current sewing/craft challenge.  

A Holiday Gift to my Readers:

My kids are 6 and 8 now.  They are very smart and creative and beautiful.  They are goofy and silly and funny.   They constantly remind me to be patient and kind and consistent.  I recorded this video when they were 3 and 5.  Danika had just begun talking like a big girl and I so enjoyed hearing her philosophical perspective on the world.  Riley was (and still is!) all boy.  He was (and still is!) a noisy little imp who loved to entertain a crowd with his goofy antics.  

I wanted to share this video with you because I believe it epitomizes life in our home.  We talk and listen.  We laugh and play.  We foster creativity and encourage fantastic storytelling.  We are often ridiculous and sometimes witty.  I can't give you all a physical Christmas gift this year, so I decided to give you something personal and share a slice of my life.

It's a long video, but I encourage you watch it all the way through because there are lots of funny and sweet moments throughout.  I dare you to watch it and not smile.  

I hope you enjoyed this!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy New Year!

Big Hugs from Montana,

Scrappy Chenille Scarf

One of the participants from my scarf-making challenge made a chenille scarf that I really liked.  Her name is Linda and she wrote a great tutorial for her scarf that you can find HERE.  

Linda's scarf is made up of 7 layers of fabric.  The center layer of fabric is never cut and serves as a background color (black, in Linda's case)  for both sides of the scarf.  After I got 6 pieces of fabric cut, I thought my scarf was already looking very thick.  It's hard to tie and twist a really thick scarf, so I figured out a slightly different method to cut the scarf using only 6 layers of fabric.  

This is a diagram of a cross section of my scarf.
The center layers are grey flannel.
The white vertical lines show the stitching which goes through all 6 layers of fabric.
The black vertical lines show where I cut through 2 and sometimes 3 layers of fabric.
This is how I got away with using an even number of fabric layers.

The center layers were grey flannel.  The outer most layers were a blue/violet tie-dye pattern.
The top photo shows the royal purple I used under the tie-dye on one side.
The bottom photo shows the bright blue I used on the other side.
The sides are different, but the difference is very subtle.
Next time I try this I'm going to make the 2 sides much more different.

As you might be able to guess, I spent almost as much time taking photos of the scarf as I did making it!  I'm trying really hard to learn the manual settings on my camera.  I took a few photography courses in college, but those were years ago and we used real film.  I remember just knowing which adjustments to make to change the focal length and shutterspeed to use to get the photo I wanted.  Now it's a lot of hit and miss, referring back to my manual a million times, and head-scratching.  My biggest trouble now is with focusing.  Maybe my up-close vision is deteriorating as I approach 40.....?  I can't see well enough through my little camera view finder to know if my image is sharp or not.     

Linda said she made her scarf in 2.5 hours.  It took me more like 4 hours.  But I was dealing with very odd-shaped pieces of fabric and had some trouble finding the bias.  The grey flannel is from a set of sheets I bought at the thrift store.  That was a rather large piece of material to deal with.  The other fabrics were in small enough pieces that I had to piece it together to make them long enough.  

Overall I am very pleased with this scarf.  I love the softness and warmth provided by both the chenille effect and the flannel.  I spent no money making the scarf either.  I love to be able to finish a project without having to run to the store to buy supplies.  I chose not to make the tassels on the ends, opting for a simpler look.  But I love the way Linda's tassels look like twisty little caterpillars.....I may slice in some tassels down the road!

I'm curious to hear your comments on this post.  What do you think of this technique?  Would you ever try it?  Any tips on switching your camera over to manual settings would be greatly appreciated as well!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,

Before you click away, I'd like to invite you to join in my current sewing/craft challenge.  

300,000 PAGEVIEWS!!!!

Curved Seams Sewing Challenge Jan 2013

Curved seams.

I've never tried them before, but I've been wanting to ever since I first saw the popular 

drunkard's path quilt block.  Here's a beautiful example of the drunkard's path block in action:

[I found this pillow at Made On Main Street]

And here's another way to arrange the blocks:

[I found this block at She Can Quilt]

I'm excited and eager to add this technique to my bag of tricks.  I hope you are too!

If you're new to my sewing challenges, you can visit my challenge page and visit all my previous challenge homepages.  Basically, I provide a challenge and participants attempt to meet it.  

The focus is on:

• committing ourselves to learn/try something new,

• to step outside our sewing boxes, and 

• to meet a reasonable deadline   

It's always fun and inspiring, and it's a great opportunity to meet other creative and crafty people.  After the challenge is over, we vote on the finished projects and the winners receive bragging rights and a fancy blog button.  You think this might be something you'd be interested in?  Keep reading!

Rule #1

Make a something new with curved seams and finish it by Jan . 31, 2013.

Rule #2

By curved seams, I'm referring to flat curved seams like you would see in a drunkard's path quilt block.

I presented the drunkard's path quilt block as inspiration, 

but as long as your project has one or more curved seams, it qualifies.

Rule #3

If you're already an expert on curved seams, please challenge yourself to use this technique in a new way. 

This is a great opportunity to go crazy and get really crafty--so go for it!

Now thru January 31, 2013

Time to sign fill out out the sign-up form below and finish your project.

February 1-28, 2013

Our just-for-fun poll takes place.

Mid February, 2013

A new challenge for March will be announced.

First week of March, 2013

Winners of the poll are announced and will receive bragging rights and fancy blog buttons.

Sign-up for March's challenge begins.

Visit my FAQ page HERE.

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/12/curved-seams-sewing-challenge-jan-2013.html" title="Curved Seams Challenge Homepage" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNedBTVuDIzB-5E45ivx3QErKd7crOJFML9oSchCuJPypJN0m0EJEHOPId9FPq8FigFadB_NjOgUdFLNFkAattGuBubna9ILO6M24ia055q6Cil29tygSuQccHMN-q15HWjY9pXRw6wro/s1600/bluebutton.jpg" alt="Curved Seams Challenge Homepage" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

<div align="center"> <a href="http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2012/12/curved-seams-sewing-challenge-jan-2013.html" title="Curved Seams Challenge Homepage" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMQps6uLfEu_BcEk9aW3SRIv-v46ylOOjnvHf7J8mFFG42AAMH3mTi0hUW-aT3iBzuHmfHHaBQ9PtGcZ-gF4BCVG3tpR81WfMtuBRjdL_e0J8uIX2WR2YJ5FK_7mpEHPWwqkvQZHnnYs/s1600/pink+button.jpg" alt="Curved Seams Challenge Homepage" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I like to make a Pinterest inspiration board for every challenge.

All the challenge participants can be added as contributors.  

It's an easy way to share links, techniques, and ideas.

January's challenge board:

Curved Seams Challenge

Previous challenge pinboards:

Ring You Neck Inspiration Motherboard!

Fab Folds Sewing Challenge

2-in-1 Sewing Challenge

Garment Sewing Challenge

Solids-Only Tote Challenge

Naughty Notions Challenge

Typography Challenge

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,