I have invented my own for kids. and have made myself a skirt with shaping at the hip line and a zipper. You need to choose your yarn, figure out your gauge...decide what style and have at it. You can make them just like sweats with an elastic waist....in which case you just cast on enough for a relazed fit at the hips and knit a ribbing band which will be turned down for elastic, work until you come to the crotch part....as long as you wish....use another pair of pants for a guide....then divite in half and knit the legs....tapering or not as you choose.....when the legs are long enough....make a "turning row"...a row of purl from the knit side...knit another inch....bind off and hem the bottoms. Possibilities for things like a cable down the sides or very tapered cullf or widening cuffs or a rear pocket are all there. Linda C

So glad I'm still a member. Haven't posted in over a year, but this thread is near and dear. I love clothes, always have. Love organizing my closet. Wish I could make a living buying wardrobes for other people - that "What Not To Wear" show would be my dream job. Anyways, if I had to pare down to the essential staples, I'd say I'd keep my tan suede skirt suit with both jackets - one is jean jacket style the other is more sophisticated, a pair of black wool straight leg pants- no pleats, my 2 pair of dark wash jeans, my one jean suit, my black wool long sleeve dress, my leopard suede blazer, all my pencil skirts, all my cashmere cash-blend sweaters, and my 5 1950's style dresses. To the woman with size 11's - try Auditions.com, Masseys.com, Cowardshoes.com. Try Arthurberen if you've got money to spare - expensive but beautiful shoes in your size. I've got one pair of sandals from them that I've worn for 9 years now. The wide feet gal - try Cowardshoes and Footsmart.com. Looking for dresses over size 14 - TV shopping is your best friend. QVC labels - Nina Leonard, CitiKnits. HSN labels - Maggie Sweet, Carolyn Strauss, Slinkys. As a matter of fact, I think all plus size women should have a closet full of Slinkys and CitiKnits.

I agree with Lyn. Last year I went through my clothes and decided to donate them to a womens shelter. I am a plus size and I knew they probably would be looking for clothes like that. I donated 3 large boxes full of clothes and some other things that I thought they might need, Like bedding and toiletries and towels and tablecloths. Not that I ever had a lot of clothes. My clothes would probably fit in a couple of boxes. I have about 6 pairs of shoes and 1 dress. My sister lately gave me some clothes. So now I have a few more. I am a cook in a restaurant so I dont have very many nice clothes. If I start wearing them for work they get stains on them, so I cant wear them anywhere else. After my sister gave me some of those clothes that she had been given that didnt fit her, I had too many black or blue pants so I put them in the 3 boxess. I thought what do I need all of these for anyway. I thought it would be nicer to share them with someone else who could use them. I have 1 pair of jeans that I really like and 1 pair that is a little too tight. I have about 10 pairs of capris that I wear a lot. I wear tshirs a lot but I only have about 10 of those too. We very seldom go out so I have no need for them. A few years ago the some of the roof got tore off of our home. My bedroom roof was gone. I got rid of a lot of things then and it is time to get rid of more. I like things simpler im my life. Maybe thats why I live in a town of 45 people and like it.

Yeonassky, I know exactly what you mean and so does my DD (guess who she learns from). I also work lots of hours and laundry is the least of my worries, but I hate how it piles up. I have two doors in my bedroom and I've put over the door hooks on both of them - the ones with 3 or 4 hooks on each. It gives me an easy place to hang stuff out of the way and since both doors are usually open, the stuff is more or less hidden. It does pile up back there and get forgotten, so on holidays, I take everything off and iron/put away and start fresh for the next month or so. It works for me. Also, I don't use a dryer for clothing (only towels and sheets), so there is always lots of ironing.