Mostly Sewing

I am indebted to my neighbour Miss Doozer for most of this post.

from facebook Tuesday 30 March at 19:19 ·

So what have I achieved today?
Emailed LNER for a refund on the Advance tickets to/from Bath for the cancelled Coven which should have been this coming weekend.  Good thing I keep all receipts because I could scan them and the tickets as evidence of when and where they were purchased.

Booked my camping ticket for the North East Skinny Dip: if it doesn't happen it will be a donation to Mind.

Got the sewing machine out and: repaired the zip on Thunderthighs's jeans which was coming away; reattached the elastic on 2 pairs of his pyjama trousers bottoms; repaired a pair of both Thunderthighs and Ferretfingers's underpants; repaired a tear in the sleeve of one of Fester's shirts; took up a pair of jeans I bought for myself from Tu (£18 reduced to £5) back in the January sales.

Mrs Jeremy Sounds like an extremely productive day, 👏😊

Bentonbag It will be if LNER cough up.

Miss Doozer Well done! I had the sewing machine out yesterday. 4 pairs of worn out leggings, 2 pair salvaged, 2 pairs turned into a nightie. Been meaning to do it for ages. Can't stitch knit fabric for toffee, but at least I have the right needles now.

Bentonbag How do you make a nightie out of leggings?

Miss Doozer With difficulty. 

It's more of a long, baggy babydoll top? 

Firstly, get two pairs of leggings. 

Cut off all the seams down the inside leg and the crotch, then look in despair at what you have left trying to work out whether it'll cover you all the way around. 

Decide it will. 

Try to make a vaguely straight cut down the longest possible edge of fabric. 

Use this as the centre front and back seams, upside down with the baggy arse bit at the bottom. 

Make a V neck in the front to remind you which way round you're meant to be wearing it. 

Test a section on your machine to check your tension and needle are vaguely right and you're not going to knacker your machine by dragging the knit fabric into the undercroft of the machine (ask me how I know this). 

Hem the V neck, all the while cursing that you don't have an overlocker and why does stretch fabric have to curl exactly the way you don't need it to. 

Remember you have pinking shears. 

Cut arm holes with pinking shears. 

Hem them. 

Sew centre seams as straight as you can. 

Cut off excess with pinking shears. 

Curse your inability to stitch stretch as your seam resembles the switchbacks on the Big Dipper at Blackpool. 

Have another cup of tea. 

Reposition side seams to take into account new fabric topography. 

At no point try the garment on. 

This is now a war of attrition between your own ingenuity and the Laws of Physics (and pattern cutting) and trying the garment on will show Weakness in the Face of the Enemy. 

This WILL fit. 

Sew side seams. 

Cut off excess with pinking shears. 

Hem shoulder seams and sew together - the home straight is in sight. 

Smile in grim determination. 

Sew bottom hem as fast as your machine will go, flattening seams through sheer brute force and determination. 

Remove trailing threads with scissors, the widget on the back of the machine, teeth. 

Try garment on.

 It will fit like a sack of potatoes, but this is for sleeping, not going down Tescos. 

If you can't see your foof when standing up, You Have Won. 

Never Bend Over Whilst Wearing The Garment.

Bentonbag May I nick this for the blog?

Miss Doozer Of course. "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn" (©J Austen Pride & Prejudice, BBC 1995 Colin Firth version)

Bentonbag That's Fester's philosophy: that, pits and beetles.

Mrs Jeremy I have just shown this whole thread to Mr Jeremy - he enjoyed it immensely! Your friend Miss Doozer's description of turning worn-out leggings into a kind of nightie had us both in stitches! (No pun intended...) 😂 We await the outcome of the attempt to get money out of LNER now...

Ms PH Glad you can enjoy optional activities again. All sounds very laudable. I'm still cleaning and tidying the house plus a bit of fiddly hand washing. Take care.

McChurch You`ll be taking in alterations next!

McChurch Or curtains, even.

Bentonbag I won't be drawn into curtains