Be Lenka Sierra Review: Barefoot Minimalist Riding Boots

Update: I ended up altering these boots to fit my calves better. See the blog post here.

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Lately I have been very into barefoot or minimal style shoes. Everyone's feet are different, but for me, switching to barefoot style shoes has made a huge difference in my long-term foot pain and problems. 

If you are not familiar with them, "barefoot" shoes have absolutely no heel or heel lift and are sometimes called "zero drop." They also have a foot-shaped toe box so that you can spread out your toes fully and a thin sole with minimal padding that allows your foot to have more of a sensation of "feeling" the ground. 

The first barefoot shoes I tried were athletic shoes to help with my foot pain when walking and running for fitness, but I soon found that switching all of my shoes to barefoot style shoes helped my feet feel better on a daily basis. 

My job as a professor involves standing and walking for much of the day, and wearing barefoot shoes has really helped me to stay on my feet for longer with less foot pain. It seems counter-intuitive since arch support and padding seem like a good idea when your feet hurt and your arches ache, but I've tried so many of the "orthopedic" brands but none of them really helped in the long term. 

I was really nervous about the footwear I was bringing to Europe with me since the amount of walking I do when teaching in Rome far exceeds my lifestyle in the US, but I was very happy to find that my barefoot shoes have kept my feet happy and pain-free.

The other advantage of being in Europe is that there are barefoot brands that are more accessible here. Most brands will ship to the US, but often do not accept returns or the cost of shipping for returns is prohibitive. 

My latest purchase has been the Be Lenka Sierra, a leather riding boot by a manufacturer in Slovakia. I just couldn't wait to share them with you!

Some Be Lenka shoes are available from Anya's Shop for free shipping and returns in the US. I had purchased the Be Lenka City in suede from Anya's Shop before coming to Europe, and these are one of my most comfortable shoes. For days when I know I'll be walking for a long time on varied terrain, these are my shoe of choice, so I knew that there was a good chance that I would like other Be Lenka shoes. Anya's Shop carries the Be Lenka Sierra, but they don't currently have the Ruby and I was smitten by this eye-catching color. 

My feet are 25.5 cm long and I ordered my usual size in BeLenka, a 41. My calves are wider than the measurements on the size chart-- they measure about 42cm, and the 41s have a calf circumference of 38.2. However, I have successfully stretched boots to fit my calves in the past, so I decided to give them a try.  Since I'm in Europe, returns would not be terribly difficult if necessary. 

When my Be Lenka Sierras arrived and I first put them on the heels felt very stiff and uncomfortable, and I could not zip them up. However the foot box was a perfect fit for my toes in both width and length. 

After a bit of wearing them around the house the heel started to feel more comfortable, and some stretching of the elastic caused a bit of relaxation, so with some work I was able to carefully zip them up. Wearing them around the house I have continued to break them in, and today I wore them to lunch at a friend's house. They are still quite tight in the calf, but very comfortable in the foot, like wearing a cozy slipper. 

They still might require a trip to the cobbler for some calf stretching, but the fact that I can wear them gives me hope that only a little bit more space is needed to make a perfect fit on the calf. In some ways this is probably ideal since the boot with time will have a perfect fit with no sagging. 

I am very happy that this boot fits, since I very much missed having a riding boot last winter as I was transitioning to barefoot shoes. 

Zaqq Equity Brogue- Barefoot Chelsea Boot Review

When I was looking for a great barefoot Chelsea boot, I came across the brand Zaqq. Their Equity Broque Cognac was exactly what I was looking for-- a beautifully made chelsea boot lined with leather in a zero drop, thin sole, natural foot shape shoe.

I tried to order this shoe from the US but I was unsuccessful, as they required me to send my SS number and I am not comfortable giving this to vendor. When I knew I would be coming to Europe, I was excited that I would be able to try this boot. 

My foot is 25.5 cm, so after watching their videos and looking at the size chart, I chose the 44. This boot was massively too large on me, so I sent it back and ordered the 42. 

The 42 fits in the length, but the boot is very wide in the ankle and heel. Both of my heels slip when I walk. I tried adding a wool insole from other shoe, but this does not fix the problem. You can see how baggy these are on my foot in the photos.

I have a fairly wide, high volume foot, but these are still too wide for me and they are on their way back. Zaqq has been good about honoring their return policy, but they do not pay return shipping outside of Germany.

Interestingly, my husband also ordered a pair of Equity chelsea boots. The size he chose based on measurements was too small for him, so he ordered a size larger, and this fits his foot very well. He has a very high volume foot in both the ankle and heel. 

Happy shoe shopping!

Euler Bra by Sophie Hines Review

There's nothing like spending 3 months working from home to get one to reconsider the state of one's loungewear. I've never really understood the point of bralettes... but suddenly I found myself gravitating towards my one lonely RTW bralette and longing for more. 

I don't have a good track record with bras, either buying or sewing them. I generally prefer underwires, but I'm super fussy about fit and anything poke-y, bumpy, or rough bothers me. I hate buying bras because they'll feel and look fine in the store, but I'll take them home and won't be able to wear them for more than 45 minutes. I spent ages sewing an underwire bra by Makebra in 2016, including several toiles and many adjustments, and while it is lovely the fit seems fine, it is irritating to wear for long periods of time. I don't even know what would make it better, so I haven't tried again. 

It occurred to me that bralettes are potentially something that I could sew successfully, even in the distracted climate of a stay-home summer. It had to be a pattern that I could easily convert to a cross or racerback, since I have very sloped shoulders and regular straps never stay up. I prefer patterns with a lining or some kind of clean interior finish. Also, I dislike the look of foldover elastic because I can't get past the idea that it looks cheap. What can I say, I'm a tough customer.

I have wanted to make the Madalynne Barrett, and while I haven't seen anyone do it, it looks like you could cross the straps without much fuss. However when I printed it out, the cups in my size seemed very low volume and the instructions for the front cutout looked rather fussy, I just couldn't see how I would be able to sew that without it turning into a hot mess. 

Next I turned to Sophie Hine's Euler, which appealed to me since a cross back was one of the suggested options and it looked like simple but clean finish. I had passed it by at first since it looked like foldover elastic was involved. Apparently one can use foldover elastic, but she also suggests bra strapping, which is used on some of her samples.

There aren't a lot of reviews, but the more I looked at her samples and her work, the more I was intrigued. She has a unique style that is feminine but a little sporty which is very different from other companies. And... it was on sale, so I was sold. While I was at it, I also purchased the Axis tank, which seems to be loved by many on instagram, but I haven't sewed it yet.

I decided I was in between a L and XL, and sewed it up in a ikat print cotton spandex jersey with a thin black jersey lining. I had to cross the front a little more than suggested, and take about an inch off of the bottom outside of the cups. On later versions I make the side band elastic about 1/2 an inch shorter than suggested, and this helps the fit for me. I used 3/8 inch bra strapping for the outside elastic and straps, and 1 inch plush back elastic for the bottom band.

I skipped the back closure, and just sewed the ends together with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. 

Her method of sewing the cups with a sort of buritto method is very cool and efficient. I also love that this pattern isn't as specific about notions as some bra patterns... you can use many different kinds of elastics or fabrics. Amazingly, her suggestions of strap length and underbust elastic length are spot on for me (If I don't use a back closure, and I cross the back straps). 

I was instantly in love-- and promptly made 4 more. 

The fit is spot on for me. It's definitely a soft bra, but the support is decent for a casual bra. This one is designated as a swim top so that you can see fit pics. I wouldn't take it surfing, but it would be great on a lazy summer day. I made it in scraps from the Pinecrest supplex that I use to make leggings and sports bras, with a lining of a thinner supplex knit. I used Sophie's instructions to make a covered band using the thin supplex and some Dritz non-roll elastic, and this is now my favorite type of band for these, it doesn't curl at all. 

Initially this one had the very cool long-line addition that is the other view of this pattern, and it did look very cool, but it had a tendency to roll up over time. I think longline bras just may not work very well with my shape, which starts getting round right under my bust. So I removed it, and now it is much less irritating. I also removed the back hooks, since they also annoyed me, and the bra was too loose with them, but just cutting them off and sewing it together made the band of this one a touch tight. Perhaps it will stretch out, but if not I may have to add an extra piece of elastic. For this one I used cool gunmetal gray hardware.

Sophie has a blog post about making the Euler in lace, so I had to try that out with some lace that has been in my stash for ages. I followed her suggestion to size up since the lace and powernet lining aren't as stretchy as the jersey, and I only lined the side cup as she did in her post. I haven't worn this one yet, but if I like it, I can see more lacey versions in the future. 

This gray stripe version is my favorite, it's hard not to wear it all the time! 

And finally, pink. I'm not really a light pink kind of person, but I added this color of Riley Blake spandex cotton to a recent fabric.com order to make the free shipping minimum because I thought it would be good under light colored summer outfits.

This one has cool silver metal hardware.

I'm clearly addicted. It's a quick, non-fussy sew and uses scraps, so instant gratification. These are in high rotation this summer and my underwires are stacking up at the back of my drawer. 

Of course I have plans to make more. I think in future makes I'm going to move the seams to the outside... less pretty, but more comfy. Even though the seams are enclosed they still bug me a bit. I also purchased some 1/2 inch bra strap elastic and hardware which I think is what Sophie uses on some of her cool versions.

Pietra gray Pietra pants from Closet Case Patterns, with modifications

Finally complete-- my Pietra Pants! As y'all probably know, I'm a huge fan of Closet Case Patterns, but these were a bit of a struggle for me. 

I have yet to meet an elastic waist pant that I like the look of, I've sewn up several that have ended up in the pajama drawer. But after seeing so many happy bloggers and instagrammers showing off elastic waist bums that looked just fine, I thought that perhaps Closet Case had perhaps worked some magic...

The pattern, as usual, was a pleasure to sew. Since I know Closet Case patterns tend to fit me right out of the envelope, I sewed these up without a muslin, to my measurements. My fabric was a stone gray (pietra!) medium-heavy weight linen from Fabrics-store.com. They came together quickly, with the neat construction typical of Closet Case, facilitated by their fantastic instructions.

The fit was perfect, as usual. The front view was gorgeous, love those pockets!

However, when I spun in front of the mirror, I was instantly horrified by the back view. The baggy butt was there, in all its fabric glory. Most likely the effect was intensified by my fabric choice... light gray moderately heavy linen (7 oz) certainly does not have a flattering gather. The thought of elephant skin jumped into my head, and would not leave. The pants got wadded up and buried in the bottom of my project bin.

I thought about taking a photo for before and after purposes, but could not muster the energy to wrangle a rear end selfie. And dear audience, no matter how much you might say that the rear view was really not that bad, the image of a pachyderm was not going to be easily dislodged.

After working my way through several other projects, glimpses of gray started taunting me, and this weekend I finally hauled the dreaded baggy butt pant out of the bin and went to work. Closet Case actually does have a tutorial addressing both the addition of a zipper and the removal of excess ease (on the side of the pant) for certain fabrics that don't play well with gathering, and I took these to heart and went even further in my hack-job modifications.

I unpicked the entire back of the pant, and took (very approximately) 1 inch out of each back side seam, 2 inches out of the center back, and made 1 inch darts over each buttock. I shortened the back waistband to fit the new dimensions of the rear of the pant. I added a side seam invisible zip. It was still was a little loose... so I added the elastic back into the rear waistband.

And the result...

I love the result, for me it is a good compromise between a bit of comfort ease in the back and a tidy rear end that I'm not going to be constantly hiding under untucked shirts and tunics. 

Now that my difficulties are behind me 😉, I love the taper of the leg and the huge front pockets. I might need more of these, especially with spring rolling around. I think if I try to sew these again, I might lay out the rear panel of the Pietra over the Jenny trouser pattern to see a hybrid of some sort might work. 

So happy to finally get my Pietra fix. These are on their way to become a favorite in my wardrobe (with modifications!)

Readers, how do you feel about elastic waist pants? I love the look of some of the RTW elastic waist pants out there, ES Florence pants come to mind, but I have no idea if I'd like wearing them. Do you like the look, or do you tolerate them for the comfort factor? 

Frida-alls: Frida Kahlo Overalls with Removable Bib

Frida Kahlo was never known to wear overalls.

However, I think she'd probably consider it, if she were here today. She was known for mixing cultures and time periods in her dress... traditional huipil blouses with contemporary flowing skirts, colonial earrings and revolutionary rebozos. These overalls combine traditional workwear with contemporary fabric designs, and mixes utilitarian with the trendy in the form of a bare-shoulder top. 

The fabric is a Frida Kahlo tribute print by Alexander Henry called Frida's Garden, in cotton canvas. I was a little worried that it would be stiff for a garment, but it washed up soft and supple. My original idea was to make overalls in a dark floral, which I thought would be help make overalls evening-out appropriate and be an excellent entry for #sewfrosting. However, when I came across this Frida print I flat out fell in love. I came across it on Fabric.com, and the picture and description was for the black Frida's Garden in cotton canvas... but when it arrived, it was the cream background. Since the print was even more lovely in person, I uncharacteristically ignored this blatant breach of fabric ordering etiquette and just went with it. 

Oops, my backstrap is twisted! Didn't notice this until I uploaded my photos!

Do I think Frida would approve of this melange of her painting symbolism? Well, that's hard to say. But having painted herself into much of her oeuvre, we know she isn't shy about her imagery. The designer has filled her garden with the monkeys and parrots she famously painted portraits with, in addition to lush vegetation, ripe fruit, snakes, and eyes and arms on canvases. As well as a few of her most famous quotes:

Pies para qué las quiero, si tengo alas pa' volar.

Feet, what do I have need of you for when I have wings to fly?

Tengo ganas a vivir. Ya comencé a pintar.

I desire to live. I already have begun to paint.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with the pattern on the legs, so I mostly let chance decide. I'm not quite in love with the off-set twinning happening in the front, but oh well. I did carefully choose what would be on the pockets though. Frida with monkey on the front left with the "...fly" quote, and Friday with parrot on the right back pocket. 

The pattern is, of course, the Jenny Overalls by Closet Case Patterns. I seem to have difficulty making a pattern just once- you can see my black linen overalls here. The fit of the size 16 was nearly perfect last time, so I mostly stuck with that. The only change I made was to grade the bib from a size 16 at the waist to a size 14 at the top, since the bib on my linen overalls seems to provide a bit more coverage than the pattern pics call for. 

But the biggest change is... the bib is removable. Ta-da....!

I thought these would look cute as pants. Mia (@sewnorth) has a tutorial on Instagram. I didn't follow this to the letter. She added an extra layer to her waistband for the buttonholes... but my canvas was quite thick, so I just made the buttonholes on the inner waistband without alteration. 

Thinking about it now... wouldn't these buttonholes be better horizontal? I didn't really think about it... Mia made hers vertical, and I just followed along. However, with a horizontal buttonhole there would be less worry about the size of the buttonhole fitting on the waistband, and possibly more security against the vertical stress on the bib. Next time! 

The buttons on the front bib are about 1/2 inch, four of them, mostly because that's what I had on hand in my recycled button stash.

I also totally freak'in forgot to add extra to the bottom of the bib when cutting it out. So I added a button band at the bottom.

I did the button sides again (Closet Case Patterns has a tutorial) and realized that I could use the top button as an anchor for the sides of the bib. It is just a little tight to fit the extra thickness on the button, but very doable since jeans buttons have a good shank (is that the right word?). 

The double buttonhole on the inside of the waistband is from me not realizing I could reuse the waistband button. The horizontal buttonhole is the one that I use. 

These jeans buttons came from Wawak. They are really nice quality, and very reasonably priced, as long as you are ordering enough to get free shipping. 

The straps each have one big button in the back (1 inch?)

The overall hardware is from Amazon. I'm not sure what really nice overall hardware feels like, but this feels a little less than workforce quality, but it does the job.

This version came out a little bit tighter than my linen overalls. This is actually a good thing, since the pants need to be a bit tighter to stay up. This is probably in part because the cotton canvas has much less give than a linen fabric... but I think it is also because I was a bit more precise sewing these, for whatever reason. I'm pretty firmly in the stretch pants camp... so we'll have to see whether I find these comfortable for daily wear. 

The top I'm wearing with the pants is a Liesl Classic Shirt in tencel twill, made about a year ago. 

The top I'm wearing with the overalls is brand new, made to wear with my growing overall collection- the Closet Case Nettie. The original pattern is for a bodysuit and a dress, but I just cut it off at a hip length and then did Heather's tutorial to make it off the shoulder. The fabric is a rayon jersey from the stash. It was a super quick sew!

So what do you think, should I take these overalls dancing?

The Princess and the Pilot-- Girl Inspired Princess Dress Pattern, Self-drafted wings pattern

So we finally had a sunny afternoon to get some good pics of this year's Halloween costumes!

It is probably no surprise that my little princess wanted to be a princess. Actually, she wanted to be a queen... probably inspired by the Olivia book about how everyone wants to be a princess, and Olivia wants to be herself and not like all the rest of the princesses, so in the end she decides she'll just be a queen.

Apparently, queens need to be dressed in pink, glittery gowns that go down to your toes. Those were my instructions. 

I was feeling a bit pressed and wanted a pattern that would just tell me what to do without any fuss. The Big 4 pattern companies are full of princess-y dresses, but my experience with their sizing for children's patterns has been dismal and the thought of toile-ing and altering them made my head hurt. 

I decided to take a risk on an independent designer, and I bought the Girl Inspired Princess Dress pattern. I couldn't find a single review, so I was just praying that the pattern was a good one. The photos were lovely, and the style of the dress is the perfect fairy-tale princess dress with just enough decoration to be sweet and classy.  The lifted overskirt that shows the tulle underneath is just adorable!

I had a moment of panic when I downloaded the pattern and the grading looked a bit-- let's just say-- unconventional. However... when I sewed up the lining in my daughter's size by measurements (8), the fit was perfect. I did change the shape of the bodice so that the waist didn't curve inward... my daughter has a nice little round body that does better with a more barrel shaped bodice. And I did increase the side seam allowances (the pattern has 3/8 inch seam allowances, which seemed skimpy to me). 

The directions were also excellent, and they lead you through the process of making a fully lined dress with all seams enclosed and no hand sewing. Yay! 

For the skirt, the pattern just gives the dimensions of the rectangles, in many cases using the entire width of the fabric and gathering to fit. Unfortunately my ruffle attachment would not work with the tulle! But it turned out to be not so bad just gathering the traditional way with two rows of basting. 

The back is closed with buttons, which is a lovely detail. 

I purchased the crown and the earrings on Amazon. I almost bought another of those plastic birthday crowns, but at the last minute I thought perhaps I would see if I could find something a bit nicer. The crown is actually quite sturdy, it feels like it is made of metal and the fake gems are very glittery. 

The queen was head over heels over the earrings. They are a bit flimsy, and the white rubber pads are always falling out, but with a bit of care they seem to work very well for her, and she is able to wear them for hours without pain (or so she claims). 

The queen declared that she needed special shoes and a wand. The shoes were purchased at Target, and we made the wand together from fabric scraps and ribbon and a piece of a dowel.

Leo is very into planes right now, so I had the idea of making a plane or some wings. Cardboard would of course be classic, but seemed like it would be cumbersome, so I thought that perhaps I'd make some in fabric. 

I put the idea into google and lo and behold, these wings by Hanna Anderson popped up. They were almost exactly what I had in mind, and I almost bought them on the spot, until I took a closer look and realized they were actually sort of plastic-y and not nearly as cool as the idea in my head. For instance, what little wimpy jets those wings have!

So I sat down and came up with my own pattern. I used a super-shiny knit fabric from Joannes, and a bit of stretchy orange knit for detailing and the straps. Inside of the wings I used 1/2 inch foam. The jets are two sizes of seltzer bottles (since we don't drink soda!) stuffed with colored cellophane and held on with stretchy straps.

The wings strap on with backpack style straps with quick release buckles, and there are elastic straps for his hands or wrists to go in. 

It is a great costume for a 3-year old with lots of energy-- he was just flying from house to house when we were trick-or-treating. 

The hat and goggles were from Amazon, cheap but effective.

Another successful Halloween! The kids love their costumes, so I expect they'll be favorites for dress-up for the rest of the year.