All of her pj's, except one pair which I only bought a few weeks ago, had been in her cupboard for about 3 years and when she put them on the hem would sit about 3 inches above her ankle!
I had been saying for months, "I must make that girl some new pj's," yet every night she would tootle off to bed with her 'shin swingers' on and I would forget...... again!
So today was the day.....
I armed myself with the Pyjamas for Everyone pattern (from the book Weekend Sewing) and some sweet poplins which I bought at Spotlight a couple of weeks ago, and which Evie had fallen in love with, and I set to work.
I thought I would make her one pink pair of pj pants and one blue pair...... teamed with a couple of t-shirts that I had picked up recently, I thought they would work a treat.
There was a bit of pattern tracing and cutting......
under the watchful eye of Shadow.......
I found a new, and rather nifty use for my clothes rack....... somewhere to keep the fabric while I use the table for cutting...... ingenious!
So here I am zig-zagging my edges (I don't have a serger so I just zig-zag them with my machine)......
When suddenly, and if you are a bit on the squeamish side you should skip this bit, I lost my concentration (!) and next thing I know the needle goes right through the side of my finger and snaps..... ouch...... leaving the snapped off piece still sticking through my finger.....
I didn't get a picture of the needle in situ (that would have been too gross) but after tweezering it out ...... ouch again..... here it is!!
Seriously, sewing is becoming a bit of a lethal habit for me....... I wonder if I will have ten fingers left by the end of the year! So my top tip for this Saturday is...... concentrate when you are using a sewing machine..... the needles hurt!
Anyway...... on to nicer things..... I finished the pants (these really only took about an hour all up after you've taken out the time for finger squeezing, holding-under-cold-water, hopping-through-the-pain, band-aiding etc) and as Evie wanted to pair them with the blue t-shirt I cut out a flower from the poplin and free machined it on with a matching blue thread to tie it all together....... finished......
(oh my, Evie looks positively bored in this photo..... oh well, you'll have to imagine that she has her 'bright-and-beautiful-I'm-loving-this' smile on!)
except that the pants were a tad too small in my opinion.....
really they fit her a bit TOO perfectly...... no growing room in either height or width..... and if I am going to spend my time making something for her, even if it is only pj's, then I want her to get at least a year's wear out of them......
So back to the cutting mat I went and cut open the side seams and added a strip of the other pink fabric down the outside seam and then added a three inch cuff at the bottom.
That's better.... now there's some growing room!!
She loves them (thinks the added in bits are really 'cool'!) and didn't want to take them off so has gone to bed in them this evening......... no shin swingers in Evie's room tonight!
Maybe I'll get the blue pair made tomorrow..... using the next pattern size up...... and will endeavour not to stitch my finger to them this time!
4 comments:
the pj's look great. i would have given up, found some chocolate stashed around the house and tried for some pity even though i know i wouldn't have got it. let me know if you still want a look at the cath kidston books.
Did you not have a bandaged finger the first time I ever spoke (met) you?? Seem to remember something about a rotary cutter going mad!! Hehe, you're a walking disaster area with anything sharp! Awesome jammy pants though and I too like them more with the added bits.
Stay away from sharp objects and enjoy your Sunday....
Lizzie
xxx
Dear oh dear! We may need to ban sharp implements in your sewing room! But the finished results are great :)
lv,
Joy
Ouch!!! I can feel that throb from here!
Love the pj's, I suspect Evie will be having lots of pyjama days in them!! lol
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