Healing my soul with Jamies

What do you do when you just NEED to sew and you haven't done it in a LONG time really, so you need to make something that really won't matter if you screw it up.  And there are no longer small pink flannel people in the house.

You look in your "stash" and find two smaller pieces of crazy pink prints long ago intended for small pink people which you think MIGHT make one pair of adult jamies--maybe. Then you decide how to coordinate the two fabrics, lay it all out, and you can JUST get the pieces with almost no leftover bits ('cause you're good at that). So you think of how to combine them, cut, sew, and guess what, you have new jamies!

I told my 12-year old granddaughter I was making "the world's ugliest jamies".

Little Miss Artist took a look and said, "they are NOT ugly, they really aren't. They are actually pretty good for combining two random pieces of fabric; they are just PINK!"

(Don't you just love the honesty of children?)

And I said, "And you know what, I DON'T WEAR PINK!" Much laughter ensued.

I haven't worn pink since I had my colors done 30+ years ago, but guess what--I'll be wearing these--they are cozy! (And crazy suits me just fine...)

FYI: It probably took 3-4 times as long to design and make "coordinated jamies" than if it had been one piece of fabric with no matching required. But it was good--required total mental absorption. (Not to mention 'reverse engineering' a store bought pair and adapting a pattern that was way too bulky...)

(I know, some of you will need to wear your sunglasses while you choke!  Never in my wildest dreams would I have chosen these fabrics to coordinate, but it worked--it really did.)

Lightweight and Cool

I find myself continuing to struggle with finding appropriate knits for things I want to make.  Also, I continue to find various challenges using cover stitches on knits and various other aspects of working with them.  So I keep trying to work on a really regular basis with the techniques and fabrics until I feel I have truly conquered them (if that ever happens!)

I found this really light knit on one of those tables of pieces of fabric at Beverly's.  (They almost always have a piece or two I'm interested in).  The pattern was fine for both grandkids, and of course the color is perfect!

Their mommie usually buys Hanna Anderson's for them.  I think they are pretty awesome, but the fabric is the same weight year-round and it's fairly heavy.  I wanted to make something similar, but light weight, and after five years or so I've finally done it!

Hint:  Be sure your needles are SHARP!  One of these hems has a funny sort of "break" about every two inches, caused by the fact that I needed to change needles and did not know it.  And one leg hem I had to completely pull out because on the the needles threads had broken; I had the stitch length set too short on that one and it was not fun to remove!

By now, you will know that I really get into the challenge of matching stripes...  Unlike the "apples' nightie I made a couple of weeks ago, this stuff is quite stable.  I would never make stripes in ultra-unstable knit.

V-Neck for him:

(I will always wish I had made the front "vee" with the opposite side on top, but, oh well...  That side matching was not intentional on the neck binding.  Since it was cut on the bias I was surprised it all came out looking like this.)

Longer shorts like Hanna's

Round neck for her (I should have tugged those front curves a tad tighter--it is sometimes really hard to gauge, because you don't want to "draw up" the top.)

Finished!

I always mark the front inside the shorts so they can tell which is front and back--usually I use a tiny satin ribbon.  In hers I make a tiny bow and in his I make a "loop".  This time it will also help their mom know which ones belong to which child...

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Later:

They fit, and were pronounced "soft", so another success story.

I asked their mom if a full-length pair of pants to match would be a good idea as they are so light weight--good for our weather.  She thought so, so here they are:

(I think I need a pair!)

More Christmas prezzies

For a 3-year old's dolly

The Christmas dress was an especially big hit for the 4-year old's dolly.

And her mommie wanted a lot more reusable snack and sandwich bags

And the almost 5-year old loved hers, too.

And her big brother loved his tuxedo vest and pants (I bought the shirt, tie, and cumberbund on E-Bay).

   

And the jamies, dolly jamies, and tiny dolly with blanket went to a 3-year old in Sweden.

While her coming-soon little sibling got one of those nice double-sided flannel blankets like I had made for the shower gift previously.

We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, so I hope this can go either way.

Another person got the same bag as above, and I made reusable snack and sandwich bags of the matching material for her.

SOFTEST jamie Capri's for me

I may NEVER find another fabric so perfect for sleeping in as this one!  (Sooooo soft, light weight, high "thread count"--I want some MORE like this!)

Bright and cheerful, although I'm not in to some of the things people who wear peace symbols support--the rest of it is great!  It was colorful, light weight, and pretty soft  (SO hard to find...)

Sweet dreams!

Every Cowboy Needs Cute Jamies

Soft, light-weight cotton makes a fun pair of jamies. I just hope they are not too big.

The botttoms are the longer-legged short style

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Later:  The top was way too big, so I made a smaller one.  I have enough material to make a larger pair of shorts when needed.  (And he really liked them!)  Of course he wanted to wear the big one while he was waiting...

(His sister immediately pointed to the cowboys and said, "I want jamies JUST like these Nana, only they have to have COWGIRLS!"  --  Always one for the "tall order".)

Late 2009 - Flannel Nightie

And yet another item that I did not take a picture of!

Nearly 30 years ago I made myself some flannel jamies from a big bold pink and turquoise fabric.  It must have had some polyester in it, as it was lighter in weight than any 100% cotton flannel I have ever seen.

I had kept the scraps, and decided to make my "pink" granddaughter a winter nightie from it.  She gets hot at night, so lighter weight is a good thing.