Margot Pyjamas

 

Well, I did warn you it would be back to basics for a while… And I wasn’t kidding! I bought this fabric with this project in mind on the last Dewsbury trip (some time ago…). I think I’d had a clear out of my PJ drawer and I needed some replacements. Although I wasn’t totally sold on the waist finish on the Margots: the drawstring waist could get ‘messy’ easily and I wasn’t convinced that the cord / ribbon wouldn’t get lost every time it went through the wash… (still not convinced to be honest…). It’s also not especially flattering! But I already had Tilly’s book, I couldn’t find any better alternatives (without splashing out on a new pattern) and I also hadn’t completed that many of the projects in said book and do like to get my money’s worth out of a pattern book, so Margot bottoms it was 🙂

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed reading Tilly’s guidance on some of the more basic sewing skills involved in this project. It felt kind of like a hand-holding refresher course, which is probably exactly what I needed given my long absence from my machine. She’s a great teacher, and the clearness of her instructions is perfect for both beginners and rusty absentee-rs like me.

Although billed as a ‘starter’ project, I’d totally forgotten the implications of choosing a check fabric and consequently quickly abandoned any desire to attempt any even basic level of pattern matching (I’m also letting myself off as I didn’t have too much fabric to play with either: even with my short legs, (shown in all their glory above, ha!), need a certain amount more fabric than the average skirt or top). I’d also forgotten the somewhat mind-boggling construction of trousers generally. Something, despite a couple of prior attempts when I was more in my sewing-zone, I still hadn’t quite got my head around fully.

I forced myself to slow down totally with this project. And I found myself enjoying the process more because of it 🙂 The first pair (pink cotton) took a ridiculous amount of time. The second (purple, brushed cotton) I whizzed through. I suspect it’s pretty easy to substitute the drawstring waist with elastic, but for my first project back at machine I just went along with it. I also managed to find some coordinating ribbon in my stash, so avoided any additional outlay whatsoever on this project.

But how on earth to photograph? Ha! Glamorous these shots are not! I seem to remember all sorts of artful bedroom shots of bloggers showing off their new Fifi sets when that pattern first came out. But my photographer (aka my now 11 year old son) was also feeling pretty rusty, so we opted for the usual garden shots which you’ll no doubt recognise if you’ve been visiting here for a while. But I do live ‘up North’ and it was flipping freezing so there was no way I was going to waft around in wispy camisole tops and fluffy, high heeled slippers (oh and I don’t actually own any of the latter). The only vaguely suitable accessories I could come up with were my trainers and a sweatshirt 😉 Mmmm… well, it could have been worse: they were cosy and comfortable at least…

So, maybe I’ll leave the glamour for next time…

 

All in all a really pleasing return to my machine. And I’ve also no idea why I hadn’t made any pyjama bottoms before to be honest. It seems the perfect starting pattern, which if you do make some daft mistakes on, hardly anyone is going to notice. And if the proof’s in the wearing, then both of these have hardly been off since I made them which has to be a success 🙂 And yes, I may spend a lot of time in my pyjamas of an evening…

Could anyone recommend a good ‘wardrobe builder’ type pattern for slightly more advanced pyjamas with matching tops? I found a few free ones in my magazines, but mostly too ‘trendy’ with cuffed bottoms, which just isn’t going to work on legs that are pretty short to start with… A good, family one would be really useful to find 🙂

Pattern: Tilly and the Buttons Margot Bottoms

Time: Probably too long, but I enjoyed slowing down and it had been a while

Fabric: I think it came from ‘Lucky’s Fabrics’ in Dewsbury and was v v reasonable in price

Soundtrack: The Archers, Radio 4

 

A Belated Half-Term Sunday Sevens

 

I had the photos ready, but somehow this just didn’t happen last week. I will get back on this blogging lark I promise… Ahem, so you’ll just have to imagine this is last week…

On Monday we headed off to meet my Mum at Chester Zoo. It was absolutely freezing, but plenty of coffee and cake breaks helped 🙂 The photo is from the Monsoon House, where we retreated to keep warm, but the butterflies were fascinating to see. On Tuesday I managed to sneak a bit of sewing time in between Mum duties. I finally dug out this fabric I bought on the last Dewsbury trip (now thankfully restocked thanks to a great, feel-good trip on Saturday, thanks Ali) to get back to basics with. Can you guess what it’s for? And don’t worry I didn’t wear them for the sewing meet up… 😉

On Wednesday we headed out to NT property Dunham Massey to view the beautiful Winter Garden, where the bulbs were out in force: a really cheering sight. On Thursday we popped a little further down the road to NT property Tatton Park, where we met this new ‘friend’ as part of their scarecrow festival (think they were all designed  by local schools).

By Friday we were a due a day in, so the children got a pyjama morning followed by some fun with this domino game. I popped into TKMaxx on the Saturday where I managed to purchase two of each of these frames. I’ve been updating all of our family photos in the lounge, and in the process been attempting to add a more cohesive feel to the room, so I was really pleased with these. The photos are taken from a trip to Grasmere in The Lakes last October, where we experienced the most beautiful weather. We were very lucky indeed.

And finally I couldn’t resist opening this mini delight on Sunday to alleviate the back-to-school Sunday-itus… It was part of my secret santa at work and was the perfect size for a single glass full. It almost chased the Sunday night blues away…

Hope you’ve all had a lovely half-term break, whether it was this week (or last 😉 ) To read more about Sunday Sevens pop over to Natalie’s site Threads and Bobbins.

 

It’s been a while…

So, I’ve just plucked up the courage to log back on here after quite some absence…

To say things have been difficult the past year or so would be a bit of an understatement! I’ve usually kept my posts on here sewing-related, but have been feeling bad for a while about not explaining my absence, especially to my regular followers and commenters, who had become close to ‘friends’ on here. I’m really sorry, but sometimes when life just gets tough, you just have to close down a little…

So here goes my ‘confessional’ and then I’m hoping to get back to usual business : the sewing, albeit in a (probably) less regular form…

So last May (yep, right in the middle of #memademay 2016… I attempted to keep smiling for a while, but eventually gave up…) my ten year marriage disintegrated. It actually feels pretty good that I can now write that without collapsing into floods of tears, so progress of sorts I guess… It had been bad for a while, but it still came as a pretty big shock, as anyone who’s been in a similar position can probably testify. And the repercussions were pretty far-reaching: especially my loss of a sense of ‘us’ as a family. Generally, life just became a bit ‘much’ and I had to close down a little: coping with any more than keeping my children ok and holding down my job was just impossible and so I had to ‘leave’ here for a while…

And turns out I’m a ‘happy’ sewer, which I read about in a sewing magazine a while back. As in, I don’t sew to cheer myself up, I sew because I feel in a good place to be creative. Because, of course, sewing inevitably involves a fair few ‘failures’ and I’d had enough of ‘failing’ to open myself up to any more… And so, I shut down on sewing also. Although I have done a bit of knitting, more comforting I guess?

But it’s not all bad: turns out there are some silver linings to going through divorce proceedings. Most of all, what lovely, supportive and loyal family and friends I have. I kind of knew this anyway, but going through such personal s##t (excuse the language, but it’s the only term for it) really brought this home for me! And Ali of Thimberlina fame that kind of includes you, thank you for the gentle nudge and your humour: you made me laugh out loud! It was just what I needed at the time!

So, there have some rumblings in the creative department of late, hence my return here. I certainly have a very large stockpile of magazine inspiration to inspire me… So ‘failure’ and a whole lot of creative fun, I’m just about ready for you again! And of course the upcoming #yorkshirespoolettes meet up may have nudged me into action, especially when I heard a certain someone was heading over all the way from Germany!! Excuse my failure to remember how to do links, etc,  I’ll get back to it and may well have been compiling my half-term Sunday Sevens photos for the week even…

And whilst I’m a little apprehensive about dusting off my no doubt rusty sewing skills, I’m equally looking forward to catching up with what everyone’s been up to on here… Even if that involves scaring me senseless at how accomplished you’ve all become. May well be ‘back to basics’ for a while for me…

To steal a famous Take That song title, looking forward to being ‘back for good…’,

Teresa