Monday 17 October 2011

Ancient pyjamas

Today I finished something that had been languishing in the UFO zone for about the last 17 years! I was making a pair of pyjamas for my son when he was a teenager. I think I finished the trousers but never got around to making buttonholes or sewing on the buttons on the jacket. That was all that was needed to be done! Well, I finally did them and I now have a comfortable and warm, dark- turquoisey shirt for slobbing around the house in or maybe for putting a belt on and wearing for work. I'm quite pleased with it anyway and it's very satisfying to finish something that has waited so long to be completed. I also finished a scarf, which has waited five years to have its ends sewn in- a mere stripling compared to the shirt!

Then I went on to give myself backache by making great inroads into the Prague skirt, as it will always be known. We spent a few days in Prague this summer and loved the place. I have lots of pictures and memories but I'm not big on souvenirs (there was a lot of tourist tat there) so I bought a remnant of purple/green wool mix boucle fabric from a department store (which had run out of things to sell by the fourth floor). The skirt is looking good with only the yoke to finish, zip to insert and hem to turn up. Maybe eventually I'll get around to putting up pictures and doing proper reviews!

It will be my last free Monday for a while (apart from next week which is half term!) so I thought I'd make the most of it but now I need a soak in the bath and maybe some Ibuprofen.

Thursday 6 October 2011

Catching up

Well the party in Zwickau went very well although it was the hottest day of the summer. Emily and I did our singing bit with Marcel and Marcus's help but it was in an Anthropologie dress not the pale yellow linen one I had intended to wear. (Just me in the Anthro dress, not everyone- that would just be weird!) I did finish the yellow dress when I got home again (I made Simplicity 2648 in the end) and I'm quite pleased with it- it fits well and seems to look good with every cardigan I possess (that's a lot of cardigans, by the way). It is thin enough to count the polka dots on my knickers though so I now have to make a slip to wear under it. Grr.

I have done quite a lot of sewing recently that I haven't written about here and I'm determined at some point to organise pictures and proper reviews of patterns. I finished a skirt (Butterick 5566) today that I started 4 months ago from fabric left over from making my mother a skirt about 27 years ago! I am always surprised by fabric's ability to transport you through time. I remember her trying on the original skirt and her positive reaction to it. Mine doesn't suit me as well as hers suited her but it will remind me of her when I wear it anyway.