Finished!

I have finally finished that lovely simplicty pattern 2539 - Mr midnight fixed the sewing machine, well just about, the light now goes out when i press the foot pedal and the off/on switch only controls the light and not the sewing but other than that it works like a dream. I have almost forgiven laika. This pattern was pretty easy to make and I really like the results. I had to buy more material as a pen leaked in the bag it was stored it whilst the machine was out of action. I was not sure how to do the gather stitches but just increased the stitch size and it seemed to work pretty well. I could have done with gathering a bit tighter though - next time. The twisted neck was easy to do but it did take me a while to get it to look even - i perhaps fiddled with it a bit too much... I really like this print - I reckon it will look pretty good under a cardy for the autumn.

Hmm...

the wee fabric shop in WK has gone quilting crazy - its all craft cottons and fat quarters. There will be a lot of warm people in north ayrshire this winter! the fabric range has increased though and there are some pretty prints. This blue print caught my eye - I bought 1 metre. I fear I may have made a grave error. the lady in the shop commented as I bought it that she had just made a quilt from the same material last week and looked at me askance when I told her I planned to make a shirt. Having made it i wonder if she had a point - looking at the finished article ( which in terms of seams and finish, fit and neatness I am very happy with)  cant get past the fact that the fabric may have been better used making cushion covers. perhaps it will grow on me. She also hinted that 1 metre may not be enough - Its a common mistake I make - not buying enough material, but, I was determined to make it fit this time and did not fancy going back to get more. I bought the pattern (butterwick 5934) in a secondhand book shop for 20p and adapted it to fit the lenght of fabric I had - I had to make the underside of the collar in blue linen and made the waist tie out of five left over scraps. The fabric left over at the end would just about fit in a match box.
This was my first experience of using a printed pattern. I loved the huge seam allowance and the fact that everything fitted and matched perfectly. I have never made collars or the wee bit on the front where the buttons go before. It looked complex but following the patten everything worked out beautifully. I learnt a lot from this. I am really pleased with the neatness of the finish on this - I am definitely improving!! It fits really well - I will use this pattern again but with a different fabric! untill then I shall be a walking cushion cover.

Grr...

the dog has just eaten an important part of my sewing machine - I am so not happy with her right now

new project

I have just ordered simplicity pattern 2593 online after seeing the top on the burdastyle site - cant remenber where exactly - I am pretty excited about this but I have to make a waistcoat for Mr Midnite first - better get cracking - He wants me to copy exactly one he already has that is falling apart (hmm, a theme is emerging). It looks simple enough but I wont get away with odd baggyness like I did with the PJs. I finished my first pattern made top a few days ago - I tried to get some photos but I just looked huge in all of them., Mr M assured me that it's just a fault with the camera - i will post them up when the camera is fixed! (eating mainly salad this week)

bramble picking

went out for a walk and got loads of brambles - It was a lovely tranquil evening - the photos dont do it justice - made some pretty good bramble jelly too

pyjamas for Mr Midnite

gone are the days when mr midnite was more likely to be wearing ray-bans than pjs at midnite. he cares more about his jammys than the jamms these days - and he is fussy.. When I offered to make him a new pair of pyjamas he immediately requested that i exactly copy a pair he got from Marks at Christmas time. They looked pretty complicated with elastic and a tie cord at the waist, a concealed button fly and in seam pockets at both sides. I like things simple and suggested that we leave out some of these details, Mr M argued that he needed the in seam pockets to keep his hands warm when he takes the dog out during the night - he is pretty good about doing this so I did not like to argue. I did not feel qualified to make any suggestions about the concealed button fly and decided that elastic and a tie cord may come in handy if they are too baggy so I left that in too. I found a good tutorial for the pockets. The rest I just muddled through with.
I used seersucker cotton that was on sale in Mandors for 99p per metre. I thought seersucker sounded like some mythical creature but according to wikipeadia it comes from the persian for milk and sugar (smooth and crinkly).
  I copied the Marks pjs by using the stripes as a reference point and making lots of measurements - it was pretty complicated and got quite confusing. I had not bought enough material initially so had to add on the waist band and lower hems as separate pieces . the pockets worked well and were not too difficult to do, the fly was a bit fiddly and i made a few errors but the end result was good - I tried them on, they are a bit baggy around the front and I cant see how best to rectify this, but, boy, are they comfortable - I may steal them.
Mr Midnite was not keen to pose for photos in them - hence the washing line - the pair I made are the dark brown ones - the grey ones are the ones I copied - I put them in for comparison