WWEPW?

I'm not even going to bother making TLo any more t-shirts, because I'm pretty sure as soon as school is out (in exactly one month), she will downright refuse to put anything on her body that has a sleeve.  Actually, I correct that: she did allow that a cap sleeve (which she didn't know the word for but, based on her highly dramatic pantomime, very clearly understood the definition of) was an acceptable form of sleevage.  But nothing else will make the cut.

Because TLo has become obsessed with summer dresses.  Sundresses, to be exact. She is not interested in having any part of her shoulders or back covered.  With one notable exception:

Today (for the third time in a row) she has insisted that she wear her white cardigan with only the top button done.  Why, you ask?  "Because it looks the most cute that way, Mom."  Clearly the unspoken end of that sentence was "you fashionless cretin".  (This fashionista attitude is backed up by eHow.com's "How To Look Stylish In A Cardigan" article, in which item number 4 is: "Experiment with buttoning just the top button or two for a casual, fashion forward look."   Although taking fashion advice not only from eHow.com, but from a medical doctor as well, does somewhat make me question the expertise factor.)

I've decided for my own self-preservation to not tell TLo about the existence of sweater clips.

Texas. Oklahoma. Texoma! Get It?

People Of Texoma, I Call On You!  Uh.  Or at least, I very humbly would like to ask you a question… and my apologies  to the non-Texomans who read this, of which I'm pretty sure 99.9% of you are.  Just bear with me today.  Today is all about blatant regionalism. 

Right.  What are we talking about?  Oh yeah.

PEOPLE OF TEXOMA, I CALL ON YOU... to help me think of interesting and cheap things to do during my mother-in-law's visit this August.  Yes.  I said August.  She's visiting us in August.  The hottest part of the year.  She is a flippin' lunatic.  (Really it's just that the third week in August is the only week that The Husband isn't in school 10 hours a day, so that's when she's coming.  Although I can't really say that means my mother-in-law isn't a lunatic, because she is.  Bless her stubby little heart.)

We want to do something fun but not horribly expensive, preferably in the nearby area and preferably something we haven't done a dozen times before (i.e. going to the Dallas and/or the Fort Worth Zoo). 

So far I have on my list:

Science Museum Oklahoma  (OKC)

We went there once about 8 years ago and weren't hugely impressed, but I've heard it's been improved a great deal since then.  I have no recollection, for instance, of the World’s Tallest Spiral Slide, which I think I would remember.   The Big One and TLo are both interested in stars and planets, so they would probably also like the planetarium (even though on our previous visit, we were subjected to what I can only call The Most Bizarre Planetarium Show I Have Ever Had To Endure-- to give you an idea, my mother and I were giggling so hard by the end that we were almost asked to leave. It was a bad, bad show).

Fossil Rim Wildlife Area (Glen Rose)

I thought we'd all like some sort of guided tour (not cheap but not super-expensive and something everyone will enjoy as far as I can tell) and the kiddos would love the fossil digging expedition.

The Dallas World Aquarium Zoo (Dallas)

We actually did this last year, but had to go on a holiday and it was so crowded that it wasn't as enjoyable as it might have been.  I was hoping on a weekday in August it would be better.  It's a very cool zoo.

 

And that's what I have so far.  I, of course, was totally willing to spend the entire day at Golden D'Or, but for some reason everyone else thinks this is dumb.  Sheesh.

So there you have it.  My exhaustive list of things to do in North Texas for relatively little money with two young children and a crazy English lady from New Zealand.  Any other suggestions??  Please help!  (I'm looking at you North Texas lurkers... now's your time to shine, people.)

It’s a pattern.

I went back to the drawing board on TLo’s drafting blocks.  When I originally drafted her first “body block”, the resulting trial garment fit just right.  But exactly just right.  There is zero room for growth (I’ll try to get a photo of that garment soon.  TLo took a dislike to it all of the sudden today and refused to try it on long enough to photograph.)  Now, I don’t know about you, but I have no intention of going through the trouble of making a garment for a six-year-old that she is only going to be able to wear for three months.  Nope.  Not happening.  So, back to the drawing--- er, drafting board.  

If I was using standard measurements, I would just draft a block for the next size up (just like I would pick a pattern).  But I want to use TLo’s specific measurements.  The whole point in drafting these patterns myself is to avoid having to trace out and then severely alter a pattern, just to get it to fit TLo.    Her measurements vary pretty widely from “standard”.  For instance, for her height (108 cm), the average shoulder width is 8.2 cm.  TLo’s is 10 cm.  That puts her at a size 134 ( which is about a size 10).  Her chest measurement is 65 cm, which puts her at a size 128 (size 6-8) and her waist is 63 cm which puts her at a size12. 

Her height puts her at a size 4-5.  Seriously, you try altering a child’s pattern that fits a size 10 torso but is only a size 4 in length.  This, to put it succinctly, totally sucks.

Right.  So I’m drafting my own patterns.

I decided that in order to get some growing ease, I would go back and pick the body measurements for the next size up for each individual measurement.  So for her chest measurement, which comes in at a size 128, I bumped it up to the chest measurement for a size 134.  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  Here’s a copy of the measurement chart:

After making these measurement adjustments, I redrafted the Body Block.  Here’s an image of the original body block (the “exact size” one) overlaid on the new “room to grow” body block.

 

Next I decided to try out a simple knit shirt to test out the sizing.  I really liked the neckline and sleeve styling on this top from Ottobre (3-2010 #31), so I used this design drawing as my reference.

Using the body block as my basis, I drew in the squared off neckline, drafted the puff sleeves using the slash-and-spread method and added a slight curve at the waistline for shaping.

Pretty basic!  I’d like to say it took as little time to put together the shirt as it did to draft the pattern.  And I would say that.  If I was a complete and utter liar.  

I own three sewing machines, all of which I would normally use to make a basic t-shirt (my sewing machine, my serger and my coverstitch machine).  If I believed in gremlins, I’d say they had found their way into my sewing room this week.  Lets just say I did a lot (a lot) of mechanical work this weekend.  I never did get the serger completely sorted out.  In the end, I had to resort to the stretch stitch on my sewing machine (which I’ve actually never used before and found I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked).

In any case, I finally got the stupid thing sewn up.  Which meant the next step was… trying it on TLo.  Oh the agony of suspense!  Would it fit?  Would it be too big?  Would I have to start yet another block draft with some even more complicated set of measurements?  Would Slayde marry Thallon or would she leave him for the father of her baby?! 

 

It fit.  TLo is spared one more day of nakedness.  Whew.

Well... er. Weller.

 

Fact Number One:  We own The World's Largest Collection of Paul Weller CD's.

Fact Number Two:  Peter Weller is the star of Buckaroo Banzai (a.k.a. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension), which sits close to the top of My All-Time Favoritest Movies Ever list.

Fact Number Three: I routinely get the two mixed up. 

Why do I mention this?  Not a clue.  Other than I was listening to Paul Weller in the car today on my way home for lunch and also happened to catch a clip of RoboCop in a commercial when I turned on the TV.  Coincidence?  Uh.  Yes.  But it amused me.

Did you know that Peter Weller (not Paul Weller) is some sort of professor of ancient Roman art or something?  The Husband and I watch a lot (a lot) of documentaries re: anything remotely related to the ancient Roman world (because the Husband is a Roman Geek and can't seem to stop himself).  Peter Weller (not Paul Weller) comes up rather-unusually-often as a commentator on these things.  It's a bit off-putting, to be honest.   I mean, RoboCop has so much to say about ancient Roman fishing vessels or whatever?  Wow.  He's a Renaissance Robot.

I keep trying to find out if Paul Weller (not Peter Weller) has a sideline as an astronomer or nuclear physicist or something.  Somehow I don't think so.  He can write a pretty mean song, though.  Here's a production clip of "Wild Wood". 

 

Random Information, Some More Of It

So an hour ago, White-Supremacist-Possible-Drugdealer-Crazed-Gunman Guy decided to come barrelling past my house chased by literally the entire law-enforcement body of our town/county (most of whom screeched to a stop in front of my house and hopped out of their many, many law-enforcement vehicles with guns drawn), ran into a house three houses down from us (which may or may not be the house of someone related to him) and shot himself in the head within the vicinity of or possibly in front of the two children who live there (who may or may not be related to him, but who's hysteria, combined with the clear trauma inflicted on the gentleman collecting them, when he heard the person who may or may not have been related to them was most likely dead, made me cry out loud so that my husband told me I had to go back inside), all after shooting and/or killing six people in another part of town (in a place where my husband's classmates usually gather to study), which we only found out about after turning on the news to see if the massive law-enforcement/shooting scenario in front of our house was being reported on yet (despite the fact that it happened only ten minutes earlier, in fact recently enough that the reporter stated that the "lone gunman" was still at large, to which I replied "Not any more. I think those cops just shot him.").

Right.  So I decided since I’m crazy-hyper-alert now, I would try to focus on something else.   All of which is the roundabout way to say this is another episode of Random Information, albeit a potentially wacky and rambly one since I'm a little.... freaked.  These are things that have been percolating at the back of my mind for a few days but I just didn't get to yet:

 

1)  Trena (the Slapdash Sewist) asked a while back about the facings I drafted for TLo’s Ladybug Dress. To be more specific, she very kindly complimented me on the facings and asked if I have any tips.  To be quite honest, I don’t.  They are very straightforward facings, which I drafted by lining up the front and back bodices at the armscye, tracing around the armscyes and adding about 2 inches for the width.  I serged the lower edge and then I tacked each facing down at the center by stitch-in-the-ditching at the side seam.  I think what makes them look so nice is that they’re so small compared to regular grown-up facings and so they just don’t flop around like grown-up facings do.  That’s not really anything to do with skill on my part, it’s just physics.  So that wasn’t highly helpful, but I didn’t want Trena to think I was ignoring her very nice comment because I wasn’t.

2) I remembered (rather belatedly) to inform Mr. Donald Hendricks of Legacy Designs Paperdolls  that I snagged one of his images and posted a link to his website, re: Paperdoll Mania.  Mr. Donald Hendricks (or a close approximation thereof) emailed me back and said that while enjoying the publicity and goodwill of bloggers, there was some sadness at people not actually mentioning that YOU CAN BUY HIS PAPERDOLLS.  I forgot to mention this as well.  If I had spare income I would purchase many, but since I’m a poverty-stricken mother of two who works two jobs and apparently lives in the kind of neighborhood where white-supremacist drug-dealer gunmen (possibly) live, I don’t really have the disposable income right now.  So I will just say: If you have some disposable income and a penchant for exquisite illustration, please purchase something from the mysterious Donald Hendricks, whose email is either written by an assistant, one of his multiple personalities or in the royal “We”.  I’m not totally sure which.  I sort of prefer to imagine it's in the royal "We".

Well, being snarky about a total stranger has calmed me down a bit and I think I’ll head off to bed.  I thought I had more questions to answer and random information to give, but I guess I only have those two.  Clearly I’m not interesting enough and will have to work harder to generate questions!  Um… so let’s see:

“If you could be any kind of animal, what kind would you be?”  No, wait!  I mean: “If any kind of animal could be you, which kind would?”

Discuss amongst yourselves.  I'm going to try to sleep.

 

(edit: well, that guy wasn’t the children’s father, he was their uncle.  so I guess there are some small mercies, although not many, in this situation.  one person (other than the shooter) has died, the others’ injuries are “non-life threatening”.  as for my kids, their bedroom is at the back of the house and they slept through the whole thing.)

Hyperbole… It’s The Best Thing EVER!

Judy In N.Z. (a.k.a. Judy Who-Makes-Perfect-Baby-Clothes-And-Makes-Us-All-Look-Perfectly-Useless-Yes-She-Does-You-Are-In-Total-Denial-If-You-Don't-Think-So Ross) has highly recommended (and by “highly recommended” I mean “gushed to the point of actual giddiness”) the book "Metric Pattern Cutting For Children's Wear and Babywear" by Winifred Aldrich.

I’m a very cynical person.  I’m inclined to disbelieve just about anything anyone tells me.  Or rather, I’m inclined to approach anything I’m told with a very healthy dose of judicious skepticism.  My general attitude in life is, “Maybe.  Maybe not.  We’ll see.”

But perhaps I should go back and explain myself before I continue: I am a designer by training.  The general philosophy I was trained under (and to which I wholeheartedly subscribe) is that if you teach a designer to design, they can apply those skills to designing anything.  You don't train an architect or a graphic designer or a guy-who-designs-your-computer-mouse.  You train a Designer.  They figure out how to work the details later.  So when I started sewing clothes and cutting up patterns and whatnot, there was always a niggling little voice at the back of my mind telling me that really, given the proper set of information, I should be able to just design these stupid patterns myself.  Because (in case I haven't emphasized this enough yet), everything is just a system.  If you have the correct data, you can design anything.   An-y-thing.

But you need the data.  Enter "Metric Pattern Cutting For Children's Wear and Babywear" by Winifred Aldrich or what I like to call "HOLY #$*&!  #*#&#!!  I FOUND THE FLIPPIN' DATA!"

I totally, completely and wholeheartedly apologize to Judy I'm-So-Amazing-And-You're-Not-Thhhhbbbt! Ross for ever doubting her.  She is totally and completely right.

I'm saying all this because while I've just finished my first garment, it's not totally successful but I wanted to be totally clear that I wasn't faulting THE WORLD'S MOST AMAZING AND USEFUL BOOK EVER.  Er. 

I used TLo's body measurements (I think, I'm having to adjust to metric a little) and drafted the "easy-fit t-shirt block".  I then used this block to make her first tunic.

When they say "Easy-Fit" they really mean it.  It's pretty much enormous.  This isn't a global issue with the pattern drafting instructions, because when I then went on to draft her Sleeveless Body Block and made a sleeveless tunic, it fit absolutely perfectly but with absolutely no room for growing.  So I can see I'm going to have to do some experimentation with the sizing before I continue.

Here's the Flat Body Block (which is a close fit) overlaid on the Easy-fit T-shirt Tunic pattern.

Anyway, here's the tunic in all it's glory.  It's pretty unattractive, but or some mysterious reason known only to her, TLo seems to like it.   At least she won't be naked.

 

Hopefully this week I will be able to fine-tune the blocks and get something else done.

Note: the title of my post comes from my all-time favorite t-shirt, which my lovely husband bought for me last Christmas.  It is available from my all-time favorite magazine’s website (well, “favorite” barring pattern magazines)…  Mental Floss.

They are the BEST THING!  EVER!   (No association, yadda yadda blah blah you know the drill.)

A Perfect Doll.

OK, so despite my promise to stop being so depressing all the time, yesterday’s post was a little bit of a downer.  (Although I have to say:  Ministry.  Playing The Grateful Dead.  That is so funny!) 

Since I’m still in the middle of drafting TLo’s new summer wardrobe from her custom-fit pattern blocks (super-exciting!), I don’t have anything to show in the way of sewing right now.  Or even in the way of pattern blocks, since I figured those would be pretty dull without a finished garment to gawk at.  So here’s something else.

When I’m totally bummed out and need something pretty to look at, my All Time Bestest Favorite Eye-candy Star is the amazing Donald Hendricks. 

 

Now, you would think it was enough that he draws the most kick-ass paper dolls around.  But no.  He also put them online.  So you can play with them.  For FREE. 

The latest is Poiret.

 

Paper dolls.  Poiret.  Together.   It is genius.  Genius, I tell you.

 

I heart Donald Hendricks.  He is my internet hero.

(And no, I have absolutely no association with said hero.   He just rocks.)

PS.  To play with the paper dolls, go to the “Dress The Dolls” link and click on the one you want to play with.

Friend of the Devil

This week my parental paranoia is in overdrive.  I've heard two different stories about acquaintances' children who have been (allegedly) sexually assaulted by the adults who supposedly should be caring for them-- in one case a school coach and in another the father of the victim.  This is depressing and scary, especially as in the case of the father, this person had contact with my children.  Which, as my husband has told me repeatedly, has little impact on us.  The child he (allegedly) assaulted is not a minor and my impression is that this wasn't a factor, but that makes no difference to me really... and most certainly not to the victim.

Even my mother said to me last week "It's getting so you're too afraid to let your kids out of the house."  Which is normally not an attitude she subscribes to at all.  But times change.  When I was The Big One's age we just lived a different life.  I know that bad things happened then too, but it seemed like the world was kinder and gentler to us. 

In waxing nostalgic for the rosy past, I have The Grateful Dead stuck in my head today (which I guess is about as bad as Fugazi but infinitely superior to the Taylor Swift that was stuck in there yesterday - thanks to vocal stylings of TLo: SUPERSTAR!).

So check it out: A very grainy (and apparently French) "Friend of the Devil".  As performed by Ministry.

You heard me.  I said Ministry.

Duuuuuude.  I totally saw them groove at the Country Fair.  No wait.  I didn't.  Who WAS that then?  Wow.  Now I remember why I don't go to the Country Fair.

 

And now I'm off to paint a rainbow on my face or something.  Peace out, people.  Think good thoughts.

Fast AND Easy

Have you ever wondered if you’re a Pattern Whor---?  Um.  A Pattern Floozy?  (Ooooo.  “Floozy”.)

I have a lot of patterns.  Patterns for things I will never, ever make.    Am I really going to make a car seat organizer? Or velcro paperdolls? I think I can definitively say, "No.  No, I am not."  I know that most of the patterns I have, I probably will never use.  I view them more as collectibles, not so much as functional items.

But then sometimes I really do get some use out of a pattern.  Take this one:

Butterick 4176

I've owned this pattern for about four years.  It's still in print.  This is telling, right?  I've made some version of this top at least five times since I’ve owned it.  (I probably would have made it more, but I’m easily bored.)  We’ve already established that I’m thrify.  Using one pattern for four whole years?  Totally thriftyawesome!

And here’s the latest version.  Last week it was 92 on at least two days.  (Right.  Ninety. Two.)  This is the last item from The Big One's Great Uniform SWAP.  She didn't wear it all winter because it's cotton lawn.  Perfect for a 92-degree “spring” in Texas.

(When you ask The Big One to “show off her dress” you get something that looks like a prisoner-of-war mugshot.)

I added a little collar because the uniform policy requires one.  It’s just a simple flat collar finished with bias binding at the neckline.  Otherwise, I think I mostly made this as-is.  Well, I think I added a cuff to the sleeve instead of the elastic they used.

I then tested out some decorative stitches with my Brother.   -yawn-

All in all, this pattern was a good bargain.  It’s sized 2, 3, 4, 5, which with the Big4’s humongous sizing means I can probably keep making this dress for The Big One until she’s at least, what… 16?  Thriftyawesomeness!  And here she is, our delicate size 4 flower:

People at work wonder why I show up in the morning looking frazzled.  I’d like to see you deal with Zombie Girl every morning and be, you know, groomed.  Or coherent.

100

 

So I just realized that I'm coming up to my 100th blog post.  In fact, this is it.   Hmmm... seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was mildly amazed to get to my 50th blog post.  No wait. It wasn’t that long ago.  Man, I really can talk.  (Psssht. Like this is a surprise to anyone who knows me.)

But is it important, this counting of the posts?  You got me.  It did start me thinking about "100".  So here's what you get when you Google "100" (disclaimer: these links will take you to outside websites, the which I have no affiliation with, control over or great knowledge of.  They may or may not have random advertising, annoying pictures, offensive text, etc. etc.).

#1   A Wikipedia entry on the number "100". 

Really? This is necessary? This just proves that literally anything can be in Wikipedia.

#2   The webpage for Hottern' Hell 100. 

Now this is interesting.  And a little disturbing.  Did this come up as #2 because the computer knows where I live?  Or is it just a coincidence?  I do not know.  Perhaps it’s a sign that I should actually volunteer this year instead of, you know, being annoyed at the inevitable extra, last minute work that this thing somehow always causes me. 

Nah. 

#3    Something called "The Living To 100 Life Expectancy Calculator". 

Yikes.  This is also interesting and a little disturbing.  I don't need to take this test to know that my life expectancy is probably not 100.  And do I really want it to be?  Unlikely.  Besides, this site is creepy and looks like the kind of thing that if you give them your information, they’ll never ever leave you alone.  (I don’t know this, I’m just saying it looks like that.)

 

I don't know.  Maybe 100 isn't that exciting after all.  Unless you count the 100 pieces of Easter candy The Big One ate this afternoon.  Or the 100 times I've said to myself tonight that next year we will not be having any holidays that involve the giving of or eating of sugar.  It's Halloween lima beans and Christmas turnips for everyone, baby.   You can all have 100.

Grooovy.

I, like, totally was one with the cosmos and riffing in my sewing karma, man.  Whoooa.  So I managed to finish one groovy summer dress for Moonblossom-- I mean TLo.  It's got the whole total nature thing going on, right?

I used an OOP New Look pattern (NL 6474), even though it is clearly a tool of the bourgeoisie establishment, trying to make all little girls look like, you know man, little girls.  It totally forces us to see girls based on the gender roles society puts on them, man.  And it has a hat.

This pattern only went up to a size "4", which totally discriminates against TLo's need to be, you know, a size 6.  So I graded it up and added a new, longer skirt. 

Because she's like a flower, she will grow in the summer sun.

Then I added some ruffles to the front, because it totally honors TLo's need to express herself through, you know, ruffles.  She won't be kept down by the Man, man.

I drafted a facing to sandwich the ruffles to the front.  

 

Mmmm.... sandwich.

 

  

She digs it, man.

Because They Can’t Get Up.

You know how you get a song stuck in your head?  This happens to me a lot.  Sometimes for days.  All day long.  And all night I dream the song.  Then I wake up and sing it in the shower.  What is the deal with that?

Thanks to my rotten husband, I have had flippin’ Fugazi stuck in my head for two weeks.  Seriously. Two.

This is a totally great song.  You know, a few times.  Not for two flippin’ weeks.  So I thought I’d share the wealth.  Maybe if it gets stuck in one of your heads, it will leave mine.  I’m looking at you, Big In Japan.

I will say, this is good footage if you like Fugazi.  Which I am rapidly starting to not.  Get out of my head, you skinny freaks!

In Which I Brag Shamelessly.

I finally broke down and bought some new jeans.  My grand plan of wearing only skirts (based simply on the fact that I outright refuse to make my own jeans) has not gone well.  I have one almost-finished skirt based on my super-duper fitting muslin.  And that's it.  But my old jeans are not only old and worn out, they're also way too big.  They look schlumpy.   Even for me.

So I went to the mall -shudder- and checked out the jeans sale that a friend at work was hyping.  And I found a pair of Levi's and a pair of low-rise Lee's. 

But wait.  Here's the kicker.  These jeans were not in the "women's" department.  They were in the "regular people" department.  Granted, they're size 16 so we're talking the very top of the regular world, but still... that's like three whole sizes down from my previous jeans (which were size 18W)!  No wait.  That's four sizes. Whoo HOO!   I AM SO PSYCHED.  Ok fine, my 18W's were loose to begin with, but not my 16W's. That's still three sizes, people.

 

(And if, Gentle Readers, you are now looking at my weight-loss slider bar and shaking your heads in disbelief, muttering, "No flippin' way did she go down four sizes on eight pounds!"... well, I have an explanation.  Remember way back when, when I said it was a long story why that thing hadn't moved?  Here's the long story.  About a week after I set up that slider, I realized that my scale was having some serious issues.  As in, one day it told me I'd gained three pounds.  The next day, it decided I'd lost 65.  Now, as much as that is a dream come true for many of us, I'm willing to recognize that I'm only going to lose 65 pounds overnight if it involves having a limb or two amputated.  So I decided to put that scale out of it's misery and bought a new one.  Unfortunately, the new scale was pretty persistent in declaring my weight to be seven pounds more than the old scale thought it was.  Much like my doctor's scale insists.  I finally decided that since the scales were clearly in cahoots, I'd just go with the "new" weight, which meant that in order to move that slider I had to go back and lose a whole new seven pounds before I could even make any progress.  Rather than change the slider setup I figured it would be, you know, "good for me" to just tough it out.  Character building.  And look!!  Four whole friggin’ sizes, people.  Go Beangirl, it's your birthday.  Go Beangirl, it’s a party.)

 

My only question now is: Does this mean I'm not a woman anymore?

EDIT: here’s the size chart from Lee, which is the other brand of jeans I bought.  To answer a question, typically “women’s” sizes in jeans continue on where “regular” sizes end, but due to (presumably) vanity sizing, they don’t go up from the regular size 18 (the last size) and on to just plain 20.  Instead, they start over at 16W (which would be the same as a 20) and then 18W, etc.  You could argue based on this chart that 18 and 16W are pretty similar in size (and in some brands I think they’re probably identical). 

This sizing seems accurate to me in that my starting measurements were waist 39” and hip 49”, which corresponds exactly to their size 18W and that’s what I used to wear.  The new jeans I bought are the size 16 under the misses chart.  

I defy you find a sizing chart on the Levi’s website.  It’s unintelligible!