these were a sod to make for a beginner like me. they’ve taken a whole week’s worth of evenings and at the end of it all i’m doubtful whether they’ll fit. it hadn’t occurred to me that making something with sleeves and a collar would be quite so much work - a lot of it being trying to wrap my brain around how it all fitted together. still, it’s all educational.

they’re made out of a bargain king size brushed cotton sheet i got from shaws. i used less than half the fabric so i can make at least one more pair when (if) i can get up the urge. lovely cheapy thread, buttons and elastic too, so if you don’t count the woman-hours they’re bargainous.

i did a size 92 to get a better feel for the ottobre sizes, as well as cos that’s the smallest size they come in. one glance at the trousers…

…tells you they’re for a very different shaped child to mine (beautifully stumpily armed/legged n pot bellied for anyone who doesn’t know) . a lot of the length is actually in the rise, which is great for the clothy bum, but i’m not convinced there’s enough fabric in the waist section to get them over the nappy in the first place.

there are a few things i’d do differently next time round. i didn’t add any extra allowance to the hems and from what i’ve seen so far it looks like i should - both the dress and the pj top are a bit skimpy for length. i topstitched the seams on the trousers as per the instructions (well, i think, they’re a bit minimal) and it looks a bit odd. kinda military in some way. anyway, not very pyjama-y. a close look at the photos in the magazine doesn’t show any sign of topstitching. i’d add extra to the trouser tops too, so i’d have enough to turn under the casing for the elastic. i’d also like to tidy up the hems on the cuffs so they could be turned back and look decorative (rather than frayed, which these will). maybe wrap the seam in some kind of bias tape (lol, can you tell i don’t really know what i’m talking about?).

there are more pictures in the gallery, i’m pleased with my tidy hems but the corners aren’t very sqaure and the collar came out a wee bit wonky. i’m just pleased it came out the right way up

i’m quite chuffed with my cunning device for marking seam allowances onto the ottobre patterns - i just carved out a piece of standard dressmaking chalk. i had to resharpen a couple of times and make sure the points stayed at 5/8. i like the fact that it marks both the cutting and stitching lines at once.

buster’s got new buttons!

they’re much easier to do up, and i think i prefer the cream look (if you’re so inclined you can check out the difference for yourself with the slide show feature in the gallery).

madam enjoyed shopping for them, though i didn’t enjoy vainly trying to keep her octopus-like arms from pulling out every tube of buttons from the rack.

this was the first of nanny’s knits and probably the only one that’ll be made in the proper rowan wool, for obvious financial reasons. i figured the big wool would be difficult to substitute plus it would be nice to see whether the rowan yarns are really worth it. the shade’s latte and i got it on ebay for a modest discount. fair do’s it is lovely, toasty warm and very light and soft. i love the colour, a bit more restrained than the original bubblegum pink. it’s a size 2-3 and it’s a bit on the big side right now, but still wearable and will likely still fit next autumn/winter.

there was enough wool left over for a rather lovely hat, which i reckon will take about 10 years for her to grow into. fits me a treat though

i’ve been busy tweaking the blog and - more importantly - sewing lately so never got round to finishing up the entries for the ottobre 4/2003 dress and leggings. the bad news is my fantastic iron-on appliques turned out to be iron-on-wash-off it’s not the end of the world as i can run a few teeny stitches around but it takes the shine off a little. next time i’ll try an alternative pressing method that involves a lot more pressure plus a repeat pressing on the reverse, see if that helps.

the ugliest of the ugly is my dreadful thread (non)matching as seen here

it’s better on the dress as i picked the second spool after i’d dyed it…

on the up side i was really pleased with the serging stitch i discovered on the machine. nice neat edges with so little seam allowance i was able to add it by eye. only works cos it’s a knit so doesn’t really ravel.