It’s all because I was fat…

It’s true. I own it. I used to be a fat girl. I’m not so thin anymore either, but I’m working on that. I used to weigh 242 pounds at my heaviest. Weight like that on a little five foot four inch frame has to go somewhere, and unfortunately for me, it didn’t just show up on hips and thighs, it went to my calves. Yup, my calves. I know that’s not a location that most people would bemoan, but for someone who idolized Ginger Rogers and wished she could dance like Vera Ellen, a good set of gams was the dream! Lugging around extra weight built up some pretty impressive calf muscles that have never diminished no matter how thin I was able to get. Okay, okay. Not such a horrible fate…I grant. But at this time of year when every pretty girl and cute little old lady that I know is wearing a pair of knee-high boots to combat the weather and highlight their fashion? I’m left out in the cold. Standard boots don’t fit. It doesn’t help that I have tiny little size 6 feet that SHOULD lead right into a slim little leg, right? Ugh. I wish I could wear boots! I’m always cold. Jon mocks me for always being cold. Even in summer I sleep under covers, but now in winter it worsens and I dread going outside. Period. That air just seeps up through my pant legs to my unprotected and overgrown calves and chills me to the bone. Well, this year, I decided to do something about it! I’m a seamstress, for crying out loud! A poor seamstress, but a seamstress. I found a great pair of Anne Taylor boots on ebay for $10 in my size and jumped on them.

Once they arrived, I slipped them on and put a sort of dickie piece of suede I had left over from a very old project in the gap left between the teeth of the zipper.

I cut that out with some buffer for seams and made a copy for the other leg. I cut a line straight down the boot from the top to the ankle an inch or so back from the zipper and then stitched in my patch pieces. Granted, they’re not the same color, but it’s neutral, the same tone, and if I felt like jazzing them up I could add embroidery, pins, or bling to that very section and it wouldn’t seem out of place.

And, for the most part, I wear them now under jeans, so no one sees the patch anyway!

YAY for warm legs! YAY for getting to wear socks to church without looking lame! YAY for a pair of boots that I can finally wear!