The not so secret pyjamas

Sometimes (actually quite often) subtlety eludes me - I'm constantly told I can be relied upon to tell it like it is, although I do try to be diplomatic!

So while everyone is talking about their secret pyjamas I just cut straight to the chase and made a pair of pants that essentially look like pyjamas, according to my family at least. 

Now that I'm getting used to wide leg pants after wearing skinnies for so many years, I'm enjoying the swishy feeling of striding around with swathes of fabric around my legs. This is a super soft rayon I bought from Spotlight after seeing @gabrielle_upsewlate make a pair of pants from very similar fabric (yes I am blatantly copying her!).

The pattern is Burda 5/2013 #117. I've cut out a larger size than I needed because I wanted these very loose fitting, which is why it doesn't look much like the pattern photo or drawing.

I've made this a few times before and it's really a simple pattern. It comes with the illustrated instructions in the magazine which I find a bit ridiculous since it's such a simple pattern and there are more difficult patterns in the magazine that could have benefited from the extra directions, but that's Burda for you!  I don't think I posted the last pants I made from this pattern last year - it's essentially the same as this project but just in blue rayon:

The only thing I don't like about this pattern is the waistband treatment - essentially the top is just folded over and stitched into a drawstring casing, which means the pocket bag, pocket side piece and front of the pants are part of the waistband. This is a bit bulky and messy looking, so I ended up cutting off the top and just sewing a normal rectangular waistband instead.

I only bought 1.5m of this fabric because I didn't want any small pieces left over to add to my overflowing scraps basket. It turned out this was the perfect amount but it didn't allow me to pattern match or properly consider pattern placement - it's rather obvious at the side seam and a little embarrassing at the centre back....

Oh well, I can't see the back so I don't care if I have a big flower on my butt! The pants are perfect for those warm days when I haven't been diligent with shaving or waxing and I can see myself wearing them quite a bit during our upcoming summer. And even better - I only bought this fabric last week so it didn't even hit the stash. Gotta love fabric that goes straight from the washing line and into your wardrobe!

New Look 6000 - dematernified*

*dematernified: the act of refashioning maternity clothes into normal sized clothes.

Cleaning up my sewing room recently I found many unfinished projects (aka UFOs) once again piling up in random places. Every few years I seem to go through a cycle where I try to either finish them off or cull them but I never get them all done and before I know it I've added way more to the pile! Well, here I go again.....

In my UFO pile I found a dress I made around 7 years ago when I was pregnant with my second child from New Look 6000 (an old favourite). I held onto it not because I was planning to have another child but because I made it from a good quality ponti knit which is hard to find and because this is a favourite dress pattern and it deserved to be worn for more than just a few months.

To turn it into a maternity version in the first place I simply made it a size larger, added extra length to the front and placed gathers on both side (see this post here). To de-maternify it, I unpicked all the pieces and simply cut out the pattern pieces in the right size - and then it sat in my UFO pile for the past few years. No good reason why - I was just clearly distracted by newer and shinier projects!

On a recent sewing weekend away with some sewing friends it took me about 2 hours to finally sew this dress and now I have a new dress just in time for the warmer weather we're having here in Sydney. Honestly, at the end of finishing each UFO I always wonder why I left it for so long!

There's not much to say about this dress - it's a very simple make but is really flattering which is why a bajillion seamstresses have made it and the pattern is still for sale over at Simplicity. I've made this version with cap sleeves because even though I love the elbow length sleeves with button tabs they are impossible to get into jacket sleeves and it's so cold in my office that I definitely need that.

I guess the most obvious difference is in the side view - no more preggo belly (just a mum tum though).

In the photo above I was only 21 weeks and I grew much larger so it was lucky that there was a lot of extra fabric in the front. Check out the photo below to see how much larger I got - this photo was 5 days before I gave birth to a 4.5kg (9lb 14oz) baby:

Finally how awesome is the necklace I'm wearing? It's from an Australian company called Ruby Olive and this plain black dress is just perfect for showing it off.