sewing progress

I liked this post from Eating the Seasons recently. While I am some distance from making my own outer clothes of the type which can then be worn to work not on funny clothes day, I have achieved a few small victories in the sewing department today. At 6am actually. You might as well do some sewing if you are up early with the five year old who is shouting with excitement because today is the inaugural rugby league practice day for the first time for him ever even though it is still at that point a) dark and b) 11 hours until league practice.

I've now replaced the elastic on two pairs of Fionn's pyjamas. I have also made myself an item of washable sanitary protection. When we lived in England, WEN (Women's Environmental Network) spent some time thinking up a snappy name for products which deal with menstrual bleeding but which are reusable. Back when our grandmas used rags, probably no one talked about it to require a name. 'Sanpro' was the best WEN could come up with at the time. Here in NZ I find washable fabric pads are often called 'mama pads' which strikes me as odd for a product by no means restricted to mothers in it's use. I started my project with part of a worn out baby bib, folded it in half and sewed it together and then encased it in the lower half of the baby outfit which I cut up to make this a few months ago. Then I sewed some domes on to do it up. Twice because I sewed the dome the wrong way up. There are some fancy machines called snap presses available these days which make lovely fastenings but I had domes in my sewing bag (snaplock Glad freezer bag) and I'm all about using what I've got at the moment.

I have plans for more items made solely out of things we already have in our home. No doubt I'll be skiting here about anything which makes it to functional stage, no matter the unpicking involved. I even had to unpick the pyjama trousers and I would wager that many a seamstress would think it impossible to muck up changing elastic. It's not impossible. I promise.

Lastin. Fancy title. You buy it from specialty online shops. I'd heard about it in home made nappy circles. You know what? Down at our local Bernina shop, where the staff are so lovely I want to adopt them to be some more aunties for me, they sell the same stuff, for a fraction of the price. No fancy names for it either. 'See through elastic' they call it. Buy local ladies and gentlemen. It has perks.