A Little Piece of String

February 17, 2013

Every year I make something for the girls for Christmas. I was planning on making them some warm flannel pyjamas but those little stinkers learned to sew and started running those pyjama bottoms through the machine like they were seasoned pros.

I had to up the ante.

With some inspiration from Interweave magazine, the perfect cotton/linen blend yarn from Fibre Fixation (I am in love with this yarn. It's soft and it holds it's shape really well.) and McCall's pattern 6098 I was well on my way.

My projects usually run something like this: make a mock up, rip it out, resize, resew and repeat. Sometimes there a few too many repeats. This one was so different. I wish I knew how it happened because I would like to be able to do it this way more often. No mock up, no ripping out, one initial resize, sewing, done. Okay, maybe it was a little more complicated than that but it still came together without a hitch. With about 24 hours to spare, it was a really lucky thing.

I watched the girls for a few days taking note of which t-shirts fit them the best and then used those to take the measurements. I graded the pattern down quite a few sizes to match up with the measurements but kept the length. I ended up using cotton sheeting for the nighties themselves. When all was said and done someone asked if I had used vintage sheets. I'm kicking myself that I didn't think of it. I just bought the material at the local fabric store.

I did a little sketch for the crochet section and then did up a test piece. I tweaked the design and then sent it through the wash because I knew there would be some shrinkage. Once I had the shrinkage factor, I did the math for the final pieces. The yarn and the crochet hook are teeny tiny but they went together surprisingly fast. Then I ran them through the wash, ironed them out, sewed them on and laced up the backs.

I will forever be amazed at what can be done with a little piece of string and a crochet hook. I love how they turned out. I might just have to make one for myself. I certainly have enough yarn left over.