Pyjama No.5

I know this is a little later than planned but I'm currently up to my eyes in pyjamas, as well as other commitments.

Today I wanted to share with you the complete set of pyjamas that I'm giving my sister for Christmas. The first of the bottoms, is made out of two angel pillow cases, whilst the other is made out of a really cosy throw. The angel shorts matches with one of the men's pyjamas, whilst the throw is completely unique to her. It's up to her, whether or not she wants to match on the night.

The set includes:

Long sleeved top: Primark (£3.50)

Shorts: Made by me out of second hand pillow cases.

Trousers: Made from a tartan throw, I found in a random shop.

I made a pattern for the bottoms by borrowing my sisters favourite pyjama bottoms but of course me being me, I added probably a little too much wriggle room.

When it came to making these shorts, I wanted to keep the ruffle that was already on the original pillow case, so I simply made the ruffle the bottom of the shorts. I also think, that although they are shorts, the angels add a bit of Christmas spirit to them.

I couldn't get the full trousers into the photo, but you get the general idea. Again I used the detail on the throw to create detail on the bottom of the trousers, which can be seen bellow.

I hope this has inspired you!

Pyjama No.4

As you may be aware, I have a younger cousin. Sadly she won't be spending Christmas with my family this year but that doesn't mean she can't take part in our family pyjama party in spirit. Please forgive the slightly dim lighting in the photos, I was in a rush to get the dress sent off in time.

I made this night dress out of a pillow case and a piece of elastic fairly quickly, and I have to admit it was one of the easiest and nicest patterns I've followed in a while. You can find the pattern I used here.

The only changes I made to the pattern, was to add little rectangles to join the front and back instead of using a tie or ribbon to join them. As I didn't use a ribbon, I used elastic, to make sure that the dress would hold up. This created these ruffled sleeves.

Of course at the end, the dress had to be wrapped in frozen wrapping paper.

I hope this has inspired you!

Pyjama No.3

Here's another one! Today I want to share with you the pyjamas that I've made for my Mum.

These will no doubt be the best fitting pyjama bottoms that I'll be giving this Christmas, as my mum was able to try them on at every stage, making them the perfect set of bottoms. My mums very much like me, tall and skinny, and so has the same problem, with finding trousers that are long enough.

Top: Primark (£3.50)

Trousers: made by me out of a second hand bed sheet (originally from H&M)

When it came to getting a top to match the pyjama bottoms, I wanted to again pick up on the more purple tones of the fabric I had used for the bottoms and as the bottoms are full length, I decided to get a long sleeved top.

To make the trousers, I drafted a pattern from a pair of her jeans and then I added an awful lot of seam allowance and wriggle room to make these really loose pair of pyjama bottoms. Finally I brought in these trousers at the top with a medium height elastic, which I cut to the measurement I had taken from my Mum.

So now we're almost half way through the pyjamas, so I hope this has inspired you!

Pyjama No.2

Hello again. I have another set of pyjamas to share with you today. This is the set that I will be wearing on Christmas eve, which is when I plan on giving everyone else their pyjamas.

I used the same fabric as I used for my Grandmas Pyjamas which you can see here. But decided to get myself a different coloured top, which also has a slightly different style.

Top: Primark (£1.80)
Bottoms: Made and designed by me. The Fabric is from a charity shop but was originally a bed sheet from H&M.

For the top, I decided to draw attention to the more purple pinks in the fabric,so I got this super soft t-shirt from Primark.

I made myself a pair of shorts for pyjama bottoms, as I already have a couple of longer pyjamas. Also I didn't have enough fabric to make something longer. To make them, I simply created a pattern by drawing around some of my existing pyjama bottoms and then simple added a couple of extra centimetres for wriggle room. I have included a useful video bellow to show how you too could draft yourself a pyjama bottom or another type of trouser.

I hope this has inspired you!

Pyjama No.1

Hi there! Today I'm going to share with you the first of my self designed Pyjama bottoms. I'll also explain to you how I made them.

This set is for my Grandma and is made from the fabric that all the women will be wearing. When I saw this fabric I knew it would be perfect as it has that subtle hint of red that gives them that slightly festive feeling.

Top: Primark (£2.80)

Bottoms: Made and designed by me. The fabric I used was a bed sheet that I bought at the charity shop (Originally from H&M)

I decided that I only wanted everyone to be slightly matched and so on a recent Christmas shopping trip, I went to Primark to pick up lots of plain tops. For my Grandma I went for a simple white t-shirt. 

To make the bottoms I simply drafted a pattern from my Mums trousers. Before you ask my Mum is in on the secret as she walked in on me making a pair for my Dad and I've found her help to be very useful as she knows all our sizes and has managed to get her hands on trousers from different family members, without them suspecting a thing. Anyway, back to what I was saying. My Mum and Grandma are the same size only my Grandma is shorter, so I drafted a pattern from my Mums trousers but made them a lot larger, to be on the safe side and to allow for plenty of wriggle room. By adding elastic to the waistband, I'm now sure they will fit her. As I'm not sure exactly how tall my Grandma is, I decided to add ribbing to the bottom of these three quarter lengths, so as to make them more adjustable in length. So that's how the design was made.

Stay tuned to see the rest of the Pyjama bottoms and as always I hope this has inspired you!

Our Christmas Tree 2015

Over the weekend me and my family have been putting up the Christmas decorations. So today I thought I would share with you our Christmas tree.

I am now well and truly in the Christmas spirit.It's funny what effect a Christmas tree can have on you.

Firstly we found the perfect tree, which is nice and full and not to tall, otherwise it would never fit into our lounge. 

I also got a little bit distracted by all the random greenery lying around our local garden centre.

Then of course we decorated the tree. I know it looks like someone has vomited baubles and beads onto a tree, but isn't that what they're meant to look like?

I hope this has inspired you!

The plan

So I know I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy balancing my work and my sewing. This week was also the week where I finally decided what I would make for Christmas.
I was having a little noisy at some Christmas vlogs on-line, when I noticed that a lot of them seemed to feature family members all receiving matching pyjamas. I couldn't help but think how cheesily (I'm not sure if that's a word) cute this ritual was, when it dawned on me that I could make pyjama bottoms for the whole family.

So here's the plan (which I'm half way there to completing).

I'm going to make pyjama bottoms for each family member that I will be spending Christmas with. The bottoms will be made out of either the same fabric or matching fabric. Each person will have a different style of pyjama, as that way each person will still be an individual and the pyjamas won't become some kind of weird uniform.

As I'm already half way through this project, I've already sourced the fabric.

I had to also share with you where I got the fabric for this project from, as it's probably one of the best finds I've had in a long while. I've found bedding sets at my local charity shop (the equivalent of a thrift store). This means that the fabric is cheap and pre-washed, which saves me a job and makes the whole process quicker. Out of each double bed sheet I can get 2 to 3 bottoms and for every single sheet, I make 1 to 2 bottoms. Finally, I've bought several matching tops, in every ones sizes at Primark, as I don't think these pyjamas will be worn more than once, but hey, they'll make great pictures.

You may be asking how many bottoms I need to make.

Well I've got to make bottoms for six people and I'm making a night dress for my cousin to send off in the post, as she won't be spending Christmas with us this year and I didn't want her to miss out. However I've made two options for my sister, one long and one short, so that she will have an option. Another reason for this is because I think the long ones may be a little too long (I'm sure she'll grow into them at some point, right.)

I'm going to give out these pyjamas on Christmas eve!

My blog post won't just be on Sundays and Thursdays now in the run up to Christmas. so stay tuned, as you never know when a post may appear.

As always, I hope this has inspired you!