the cat pyjamas

Back at the beginning of summer, my pyjama options were in a state remarkably similar to my ironing board cover. (By the way, thanks for all the lovely comments on that post. I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who puts off these very very simple but yawn-worthy projects.)

I made a wearable muslin with some stash fabric (majorly adjusted commercial pattern), made a couple more adjustments and then moved on to The Chosen Fabric.

 I am 43 years old and I reserve the right to sew and wear pyjama pants with flowers and kitties and ruffles. Because seriously, look at those kitties. This fabric reminds me of my 70s childhood.

 I became acquainted with my sewing machine's mysterious-looking ruffler attachment, which I was quite pleased with. I dare say if I played around with it some more and looked up some actual instructions, I could eventually get a far more even, neat result. If, you know, I wanted to put ruffles on more stuff.

I also used, with reasonable success, the narrow hem foot. Go me!
And three cheers to my husband who didn't bat an eyelid at the idea of me wearing such pyjamas. Although mind you, he hasn't seen the end product yet since he's overseas for a week. Boy is he in for a treat :D

- Jane x

PJs, shorts and another apron

Hmm, mysterious post title that, I wonder what I'm going to show you?

Clem has a habit of begging me to make him things out of such ridiculously adorable fabric that I am powerless to refuse. Check out those little lions. On Japanese cotton lawn. Oh, I suppose a second pair of summer PJ pants won't go astray.

And then, the Heather Ross Briar Rose frog pond shorts. It wasn't until I looked at this photo that I began to question the placement of that log on the front. It's just a log, and I will think no more of it.

Both PJs and shorts were made with my go-to pattern for Clem-pants, from Japanese Pochee magazine. Alas, he's now in the biggest size!

Styled with his pyjama top this morning, and a froggy hop.

 And he wanted me to take a photo of him wearing Dadda's childhood fire hat. It's made from that really sturdy seventies plastic and is in amazingly good shape.

Lastly, here's an apron I whipped up this morning as a gift for my boss at the job I recently left. Australian readers will probably be familiar with the 'map of Tassie' reference and corresponding placement on the apron. Let's just say it suited my boss's sense of humour very much. Inspired by the Sew Liberated Gathering Apron (in this post), I made it with a great big kangaroo-style pocket so it should actually be quite useful for her, as well as silly. Maybe good for gardening.

The apron is made from a souvenir linen tablecloth I've been hoarding for a few years (plus a bit of plain natural linen). I've been tempted to make myself a skirt from it but I'm not sure I could exactly, you know, wear it with pride. Apron - much better idea. And hard as it can be to make the initial cut into prized fabric like this, I'm always happier to see it put to good use rather than languishing in my cupboard. Yay for stash-busting gifts!

- Jane x

a 12 year old! (and a very insistent 5 year old)

Well this dear glowing face turned 12 last week. Charlie is much loved by his youngest brother, who insisted on taking his own pocket money to Haighs to buy Charlie some chocolate as a gift.

Charlie loves to draw and I bought him 'Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals' by Carla Sonheim which is a simply delightful and inspiring book. The bedroom he shares with Jasper features some fabulous wall cracks that, as the book demonstrates, can be wonderful starting points for all kinds of illustrations!

He also asked for, and received, more Tintin books. I think I have talked him into letting me cut and style his hair like Tintin for Book Week at school this year :)

Charlie is a happy soul, enjoys his own company and doesn't ask for much. Which is fortunate really because he has two very squeaky wheels for younger brothers. Clem has been pestering me incessantly for new pyjamas ever since he laid eyes on the fabric he is wearing above, in our shop. And so, during quiet moments at the shop, on Charlie's birthday, I found myself sewing pyjamas for Clem (sorry Charlie). He put them on as soon as he saw them (after school on Friday, in the shop) and wore them non-stop until mid Saturday afternoon. Pestering + appreciation = happy Clem + happy Mama. And a happy 5 year old means a happier whole family, really.

The printed knit is organic cotton/spandex by Lillestoff and the stripe is some Farbenmix from my stash. Top pattern - Ottobre Best T-shirts, legs from Growing Up Sew Liberated, a rough combination of size 2 width and size 4 length with added seam allowance and cuffs. I just love soft, stretchy, forgiving knits! And I do wish I could rock a pair of stripey leggings like he does.

- Jane x

and for his tenth birthday...

...Jasper requested all-in-one dragon pyjamas. Now that's the kind of challenge I like!

His original concept sketches were a touch more ambitious,

 but he's genuinely thrilled with the end result and so am I. (Scroll on down for details.)

He was simply jumping out of his skin to be reaching double digits and had been counting down the days for a month or so. He's always been a very intense, jump-out-of-his-skin in excitement kind of chap. He was a 'surprise' baby; Charlie was only five months old when we discovered I was pregnant again. Jasper has such an insistent, vibrant energy about him that it seems as if he willed himself into existence.

And yes, he just about burst a few capillaries over these Skylanders Wii game characters he wanted (moderation in all things, ya know), and  this awesome huge book that Andy found him, about all that fossil-rock-dinosaur kind of stuff he adores.

 He sang along to his own 'Happy Birthday' over a carrot cake Charlie volunteered to bake for him.

 Charlie also made him a fabulous card... from an eleven year old to a ten year old, check it out:

And so, some more about the pyjamas.

Pattern: Kwik Sew 3714
Highly recommended and there's even an adult version of this pattern... everyone else in the family is eyeing these enviously. I stuffed about with the placket for a while but it was my fault, due to some dodgy tracing. The sizing was spot-on for Jasper. There's meant to be some elastic at the back waist inside a casing but I decided it didn't need it. There are even pockets!

Fabric: Cotton sateen with a little spandex, from Spotlight.
I was not totally sure about the texture because we were hoping for something more snuggly but Jasper and I were sold on the dragon-esque print. In fact it sewed like a dream and is lovely and soft with a little stretch across the width. Jasper designed and cut the wings from some orange velour from my stash. I zigzagged them on using the walking foot. Collar and cuffs are some cotton knit ribbing from the stash.

He'd wanted a separate tail but when I suggested an applique version like the wings, he was very happy. Original plans for a hood were discarded. He was, in fact, far more flexible with his artistic vision for these than I expected.

 Feet are meant to be a non-slip 'grip' kind of thing which I didn't have. I substituted scraps of polar fleece which are warm but a bit slippery.
The finished pyjamas are reportedly very comfy and have even passed the bouncing-on-trampoline test.

Happy birthday to our wonderful Jasper. It's a privilege to share this wild ride with you.

- (Mama) Jane x

another hoodie 'n' stuff

I'm excited by the success of Clem's purple hoodie... so excited I have a bit more velour on its way in the post soon for the other boys. In the meantime, I hunted around for old clothes to try my hand at re-purposing. I see a lot of lovely creative use of old t-shirts and sweatshirts around the bloggy world and I really admire the ethic.
I dug out an old grey hoodie of Andy's that I'd started embroidering aeons ago, but it was old and ragged and not worth continuing with. And I found another that had a great print but Andy had never really liked the fit (online purchase). And another Spoonflower scrap.
Chop, chop.
Sew, sew.

Clem was delighted by the idea of another hoodie with 'this music thing' on it. (Pattern from Sublime Stitching.)
But it's been too warm here to wear it and he was not in the mood for photos.

Pattern was Farbenmix Yorik again. I lengthened the arms and body a little this time. I'm sure it will be worn in due course.

I've actually been sewing like mad lately and have also churned out some new PJ pants for the almost-11-year-old:

totally Franken-patterned, not worth crediting but the fabric is flannelette 'Boabab by 2 Mod Moms'

and a teeny tiny version of the Envelope Neck Tee from Growing Up Sew Liberated, for my brother's soon-to-be-born little boy.

Wow, baby clothes use up such a tiny amount of fabric! I would never have thought I could get an entire garment out of that little scrap I had left of these toadstools. There was a lot of frustration and unpicking over sewing the neck binding. Not the pattern's fault, it's just I was trying to get all clever with my coverstitch machine. I ended up using the single needle 'chain stitch' feature for the first time. The manual rather unhelpfully suggests this stitch is useful for wovens or other fabrics with little stretch.  Uh, isn't that what you use a regular sewing machine for? So I turned to the good old internet and found this reference to my machine, which shows the chain stitch used on stretch fabric. And yeah, it works. It looks like a regular straight stitch on top, but on the bottom is kind of loopy which allows it to stretch. It's fairly simple to swap from cover stitch to chain stitch and back so I can see myself using it a bit. Now I know what the heck it's for.

And you know what? I really really really should be doing some work that's urgently needed for first thing tomorrow but instead I've been watching Home & Away and blogging and reading Harry Potter to the big boys and having a cup of tea and I can put it off no longer.

See ya round like a rissole!

- Jane x

best fabric evah*!

Why am I blogging a badly-posed picture of crumpled shorts I've already blogged about?
Because these 'pyjama' shorts have been worn six days five nights non-stop at the wearer's insistence, and they still look okay.
This means two things:
1. My parenting is questionable.
2. This fabric is awesome.

I am itching to make myself something from the remainder of the fabric. A dress, I'm thinking something shirt-dress style perhaps.

Can I just wax lyrical about this fabric - Alexander Henry Larkspur Painter's Dots in Blue - a little more?
- It's pretty. Clem keeps saying how pretty it is.
- It's gorgeous cotton lawn that feels light and soft yet crisp, doesn't crease much yet presses well, is smooth yet breathable... yum.
- It repels dirt and hides marks. I even spilt a little sparkling red wine on them as I was sewing, whoops, and you would never know. This is glamorous yet practical fabric, folks.

Here are a couple of patterns under consideration for a spottyfrock. What do you think?

This is really quite hard to see properly. Why do they make the images so small on the front? I bought this a while back because I loved the ribbon-tie version.

Now that's better, thanks Simplicity! This looks pretty cool, but may have sack-like potential. Loving all the groovy versions though! The stockings! The shoes! And pockets, hooray for pockets.
And thanks to the Men's Shirt Sewalong I am no longer scared of The Placket. I have made some beautiful, if completely unworn, men's shirt plackets....

Unfortunately I suspect either of these patterns would be best tested in muslin form first. Yawn. Think I might make myself a Honey Blouse first. Starting now, if the small peeps keep watching the telly for a while. In their dirty clothes.

- Jane x

*I reserve the right to throw this phrase around will-nilly for whichever fabric takes my current fancy.

KCWC days, um, two to five-and-a-half?

My Kids Clothes Week Challenge efforts have been, er, sporadic, however I think it would add up to the equivalent of around an hour a day. That's okay isn't it?
Yesterday I made these shorts for Jasper, from start to finish. Since they're made of linen, they look like he's been wearing them a thousand years already.

They're my slightly dodgy graded-up version of the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shorts, with added back pockets. The brown linen is left over from a pre-blog dress I made myself, and the pocket fabric is a quilting cotton, bought with grand plans, aaaaannnd... marinating in the stash for a while now.

Next up, and finished today, was the companion piece to Clem's pink pyjama top of my last post. He has some pretty definite ideas about his clothing. I bought some beautiful dotty Alexander Henry cotton lawn at the end of last summer and have been musing about the perfect pattern to make myself a dress. Meanwhile, mister 4y.o. spots it and demands it become his new pyjama pants. To be honest I bought plenty of the fabric and its crisp-drapey-lightness would be simply delicious for summer sleepwear. And, saying yes to the harmless whims of a 4y.o. is easier than arguing about it.

Hence:

yeah baby, the full self-styled ensemble

pockets!

totally danceable!

they do the hornpipe!

show us your dancin' bobbin*

Pattern is one I've used several times now, in varying lengths, from Japanese sewing magazine Pochee. They have nice shaping to them, although it doesn't show up as well on this version as I made sure they were big enough for comfy sleeping.

Now, I really want to get to a t-shirt or two. My first order from Spoonflower was delivered yesterday, eek!

Happy KCWC!

- Jane x

* Bobbin is Clem's word for his bottom

this top is made for dancing

I've signed up for the Kids Clothing Week Challenge at Elsie Marley for the first time.
I think I will mostly be churning out a bunch of t-shirts for the boys. I have some good plain white and grey marle fabric to mix up with a few prints, stripes and other colours in the stash.
Clem saw the leftover fabric from my first Miz Mozelle dress and said he wanted a pyjama top made out of it. It's pink, but you know, why not? Summer's coming but he said he wanted long sleeves and clearly I was in a 'just say yes' mood.
I was glad I said yes. It's a lot of photos, and I know I'm biased, but I think it's worth the scroll:

Who was that strange dancing man?

(Pattern was Ottobre Best T-shirts again.)

- Jane x