Saturday 15 August 2009

No Fig Leaf Required

An oft mentioned item on many of the blogs I read is the joy and difficulty in riding in a skirt. Dottie and Trisha have offered some suggestions to keep one properly covered, as well as making reference to Sigrid's fig leaf concept.

During the winter, I made a pair of pantalettes out of rayon lining fabric to wear between my wool tights and trousers on the days I would walk to work. The layers would keep me warm, and would resist the friction that would occur between the tights and pants.

This spring, I started to wear the pantalettes under skirts, as they are much better in my windy city than a petticoat (as my dad calls it) or slip. And since I will be a tomboy to my dying day, I find I can still climb trees, fences and lately, ladders into the nose of antique aircraft without worrying that I may be shocking someone.

The transition to bicycle was easy and now I don't worry about what my skirt might be doing as I watch for traffic around me.

I made a second pair for my lighter coloured summer skirts, and decided they should be called cyclettes. Just because.

3 comments:

inkandpen said...

Lovely! What material are you using?

Sox said...

It is a rayon Bemberg lining. I linked the post to an instructable about its construction. If you are so inclined, click on the underlined word 'made'.

Dottie said...

Good idea! With extreme situations (i.e. short short skirt or super windy day) I wear black spandex shorts, but those are kinda uncomfortable. This is a great alternative.