So a year or so ago I realized I had a bunch of sensory issues with…um…pants. What can I say, my brain is weird, I have sensory issues with lots of things. But the more I realize ‘oh hey, that’s a sensory thing, I can mitigate that,’ the better my life gets (no really, so many of the things that got called ‘anxiety’ suddenly went away when I realized ‘oh, hey, that scratchy shirt tag/those flickering lights/that buzzing noise is sucking all my will to live and tolerating it is requiring all my focus and attention and energy). So I mostly stopped wearing pants.

But I still like to, you know, occasionally leave the house. Preferably without getting arrested or scandalizing the neighbors. So I started wearing skirts.

But most of the skirts I can find are…not quite right for me. They are just a little too…something…too dressy? too floral? too fancy? too girly (very much too girly)? They tend to have ‘I’m going out to brunch’ vibes or ‘I’m going out for the evening’ vibes. And what I more often want is ‘I’m going into the woods in search of mushrooms and moss’ vibes or ‘ooooh, I bet I could get to that bit of beach if I just shimmy down this rock’ vibes.

Like I want a skirt you can wear to kick sticks in and sit on grass in and pockets to fill with pebbles and pinecones. And while such things do exist, they’re hard to find, and extra hard to find in fat people sizes, and even harder to find in fat people sizes in the materials and cuts that help with the aforementioned sensory issues.

But here’s the thing…the formality/girlyness/utility vibe of clothes is as much a matter of the FABRIC as it is the cut. And skirts are easy to sew. Especially the sort I like. And there’s a fabric store around here. So I figured I’d give it a try.

And now I have a skirt where the fabric and weight and formality of it read as ‘jeans’. And oh. Oh this is a neat trick. I see several things I’ll improve on the next iteration. But even so, this has instantly become my favorite thing to wear. I already have the fabric for the next one.

And now I am officially scheming on ‘hiking pants, but make it a skirt, and also make it work with your brain.’ Wanna see how it goes?