Well, not much accomplished today, due to a migraine. But yesterday I also lengthened my trouser pattern and cut out a pair to try. I had been given enough "bottom weight" fabric to make some trousers, so that will do for a trial.
Sometimes when you do a knee length toile, like I did the other day, you run into problems when you lengthen them. So, it pays to try it out in a fabric that isn't too precious, first. I followed the slacks look from Helen Joseph-Armstrong's book "Pattern Making for Fashion Design". The trousers should fit fairly well...or at least better than RTW (Ready to Wear). If I need to make any adjustments, I can do that for future pairs.I don't actually intend to wear dark blue gabardine trousers at this time of year! But I know the autumn will get busy when I start to teach. My legs don't do too well with the cold, so I will have at least one pair to wear when the weather starts to turn. The ones I had got too big. (Yes!)
Next, I clicked undo for the crop and cropped the roots.(save as beetrootroots!)
One of the other photos wasn't as great, but showed an angle of the left root, with an interesting curl. It was not as great for focus, so I sharpened it. It is actually more in focus at a much smaller size. I still have the original photo, and so if I decided to go an look at this further for the design possibilities, I would save it at a very small size and then go read up how to keep the focus but increase the size.
So, these are the 4 I have chosen. I am putting them together for the display. They gave us a very practical way of joining them. 1 inch strips of white netting (it will be on a white wall), stitched along the joins. Then a hanging sleeve will be added. So, here's me getting mine prepared to stitch together.
It was very dry before I washed it, so the fabric was quite stiff. I didn't notice the way the pattern has a bit of a curve to it until it had been washed. It reminds me of the sort of pattern you might see on a snake! 
It is very interesting for texture, for lines, etc. I don't know if it will remain when it is washed, but it has made for an interesting inspiration photo!
I had a very large amount of quilting fabrics given to me by my friend 
Now to get time to actually make something with them!
I found some buttons that would give the large button look that is currently popular, but as I mentioned, they were kind of strange because they had slots in the centre rather than holes. I thought about attaching them with beads, but I wasn't sure they would be secure.
I really like the end result! I am not too sure it is a style that suits me wonderfully, but it will make a change for a summer skirt now and again.
So, I cropped so that I am only looking at the rose itself. In this photo, I start seeing things I can't see in the first photo...or without getting my reading/sewing glasses out! The curving lines and overlapping shapes start to intrigue my design sensibilities.
Here is a photo of something I reworked for a colleague several years ago. She'd had the suede jacket dry cleaned, and it sort of ate a large hole under one of the buttons. I reclaimed suede from inside the pocket, cut little hawthorn leaves from it and sewed them under all the buttons. Covering the hole, and making it fit. Then, with the jacket buttoned, I also made more leaves, including some from dark brown suede I had purchased previously. I put some down the area where the button holes were and also a few near the neck edge opening.
One boy rang his mum while we were working. "Mum? Guess what I'm doing? Well, I'm not going to tell you; but don't look at the fridge when I come home... Bye" 
