Self-made September 2nd

It's another hot day here. (Note: I know most of my readers, if I even have plural readers, are in Texas, where it is much hotter, but we don't have air conditioning, so 90s and high humidity gets pretty unbearable in our apartment.) I spent the morning unpacking and arranging stuff, so by the time I got ready to leave, I was pretty sweaty and tired and not in the mood for spending much time on my outfit. I threw on this tank top and skirt and was done with it.

I made the top, which is the same pattern as yesterday's, for my sister a long time ago. It's a little bigger than yesterday's, and it's a cotton knit, so it feels a lot breezier. When Rachel outgrew it, it became mine again. It's pretty old and has been sweated in a lot and has started gaping at the armpits, so I should probably get rid of it, but it's so hard to get rid of homemade stuff. It was better-constructed than yesterday's shirt. I was using my own sewing machine by then, and I understood its zigzag stitch better. I made myself a halter top in this same fabric when I made this shirt for my sister, but I can't find the halter anymore. I don't think I would have thrown it away, but I've moved many times since then, and things sometimes lose themselves during that process.

I have really been enjoying complementary color pairings lately. Green and red is the hardest because of the intense cultural associations with Christmas, but since this is a very summery outfit and the skirt is on the neutral side of green, I think it works. I don't wear skirts this short very much. My preferred length is knee or just below. Recently I concluded that this is because I'm self-conscious about the angle my lower legs make with my thighs at the knee. I don't like how the thighs come in at the knee and seem to splay out below at an awkward angle. This means when I see pictures of myself in standard poses, like the one at the top of this post, I don't like the way my legs look. I always think that the pose below left will look better, but I hate it too. The only one that I like when I wear shorts or short skirts is below right, with my legs crossed. I really don't have many body-image problems, thank goodness, but this is one of those weird things that bugs me.