Saturday 28 April 2012

A party with plaid pyjamas


I've joined Karen's pyjama party with some plaid pyjamas that presented some interesting challenges (apart from the fact that they give me the appearance of some real thunder thighs - so not flattering - luckily they are comfy).
 I started with my oft-sewn jammie pattern, for which I usually use nice soft vintage sheets.  This time I found some lovely brushed cotton in the stash.  Perfect.

A breeze, I thought.  I've done this before.  And some winter duds would be just the thing for these cooler nights.  Yes, I'm an accomplished sewist.  This will be a cinch.  I'll even get a little bit fancy.  I'll use flat felled seams, to start with.  So.... I proceeded to sew up both the outside leg seams as well as the inner leg seam, and trim one seam allowance on every seam. Can you just have a think about how hard it would be to do flat felled seams in this scenario?  No, I didn't think about it either, until they were all stitched up and trimmed.  Sheesh.  Looks like I'll just go over the straight stitching with an overlocking stitch then.
 And matching those plaids was interesting.  I thought about matching the horizontal striping, and cut out accordingly.  But you sort of have to get the vertical striping to be a bit matchy as well.  This photo shows that I sort of did OK.
 I used a little ribbon tag for the back, as suggested by Karen (I save my Tessuti ribbon for this very purpose).

Not as quick and easy peasy as I had originally thought, but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  Thanks, Karen!

And what am I reading in my new cosy pyjamas?  Well, this time last year, Rhonda and I were listening to the delightful David Mitchell at the Sydney Writers Festival.  I loved everything he had to say, but had never read his words.  So I went to the Festival bookstore and bought, amongst many other books, all five of his.  Ghostwritten is his first.  It has been languishing on my bedside table for all that time.  And I'm loving it.  Why didn't I start sooner? 

Maybe I just needed the right jammies.

6 comments:

House of Pinheiro said...

These seen indeed so cosy and confirmable. great Pjs. xx

http://houseofpinheiro.blogspot.co.uk/

Hashi said...

Cosy indeed. You're looking slimmer, sister!

I just had my annual physical, and I weigh 21kg less than I did at last years. Woot!

Debbie said...

Lovely PJs. Plaid ones always look so comfy!

Sew Sister said...

These look cosy and warm :)

Anonymous said...

These look warm and snuggly. I am so impressed when people can match up plaids; I'm too chicken to try myself! I very much like David Mitchell too - I've read all his books, I think Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas are my favorites.

Anonymous said...

There's something about plaid that just makes a person want to snuggle up in the blankies and hibernate. I briefly considered plaid, but didn't feel like going to the trouble of matching. You did a good job!