As we approach the end of the year, I realise that there were a few things I made this year that I neglected to blog about – not because I didn’t like them or wear them loads, but because I either was too sick to sit up and write, or because I didn’t have much to say about them.
So before I start compiling my end of year post for the first of the new year, I wanted to clear the decks a bit and share some of the garments you’ve not seen yet…
Tartan pyjama bottoms
The Fiske pyjma set was the January 2025 Cashmerette Club members pattern, which I actually cut out in January 2025 while very sick with Long Covid.
I bought some tartan brushed flannel in “Banffshire” from Fabrics Galore. It’s 100% cotton, £10/m and I had quite a bit left from the 3m I bought. They no longer have this exact tartan for sale, but they do have plenty of others. I initially was a bit disappointed as they didn’t feel as soft as I expect flannel to be, but they really softened up nicely with the first wash!
I made Size 18 with 4cm length added to legs, in the plain view, with no cuffs or piping or side stripe. I wanted these purely as a comfortable pair of lounging around and sleeping bottoms. I kinda half assed tried to pattern match but I can’t stand up for long and they’re just pyjamas! Do not care.
It still took me two months to sew these, one seam or two a week. 🙈
The only real bit of luxury here were the pockets, which are drafted so nicely. They’re generously sized, and though they’re just in the side seams, they’re also caught into the waistband so they lie flat and don’t bunch up when there’s stuff inside.
I didn’t topstitch the elastic as indicated because I was hoping to have to take them in at some point. So I inserted the elastic as a casing and just tacked it flat at the side seams. Tbh, I’m absolutely swimming in these now so I may end up passing them along to someone else rather than alter them smaller, but they served their purpose and got lots of wear in the first half of the year.
Tartan pyjama shorts
Then, in August (and now feeling a bit better), I realised I had enough fabric leftover to make this again in shorts, ahead of our trip to Cornwall. None of my pyjama shorts sets fit any more and I didn’t want to scandalise our hosts!
So I sewed the Cashmerette Fiske Pyjamas again, this time in the shorts length! And again I did not care about pattern matching. 💅
And I’ve ended up wearing these to do 90% of my physio strength and stretching exercises as I rebuild my body from the Long Covid.
I had no idea when I sewed either of these that they’d be worn in such a contrast in circumstances!
Zombie shorts
Around the same time in August, the same friend who I made the black-on-black Dead Inside tank for requested a pair of pyjama shorts. We have a great bartering system going on – she comes over and cuts our hair, and I sew for her (usually repairs or alterations, but occasionally whole garments like this)
I gave her a few fabric store links and told her how much to buy, and I giggled when this Alexander Henry Zombie Drive-In from Fabrics Galore turned up in the post. RIP Alexander Henry!
She felt my tartan shorts were a bit too big, so I went down to a size 16 for hers. I cut, sewed, and finished this all in one day! I rested a few times but I noticed I don’t have to rest after pinning pattern pieces to fabric any more 🥳
She was absolutely thrilled when she collected them, and couldn’t believe I put pockets in them, as she wasn’t expecting it!
Another black bamboo tank
Recently, the same friend asked if I could make her another FibreMood Elza tank in the same black bamboo jersey from Fabrics Galore as the Dead Inside one I made her over the summer. She loved that one so much that she wanted another just like it, again with black flock writing (which will be added before she collects it).
Again, this was such a simple but satisfying sew that I didn’t even look at the instructions, and sewed it up on my overlocker and coverstitch machines in an hour flat.
I’ve got at least two more proper garment posts to share before the year end wrapup, though – including one that is a DOOZY, involving two muslins and multiple rounds of pattern corrections and alterations, so you definitely don’t want to miss that!