Nina Lee Piccadilly Pyjamas

I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment to sew through some stash fabrics. After all, it's a waste to leave pretty prints sitting on my shelves when they could be in my wardrobe, isn't it? Today's fabric has been waiting for its turn to be cut into for a couple of years while I dithered about what it should become. A couple of weeks ago, I finally made up my mind that I'd use it to make some Nina Lee Piccadilly pyjamas.

Because all sewists need sewing machine pyjamas, don't they?! I'm certainly glad to have added them to my life anyway!

The fabric is a fun cotton poplin that I picked up from Sewn back when Marie had a shop in Bristol. I think I did see it for sale elsewhere online at around the same time, but that was a couple of years ago and I haven't seen any recently - sorry.

Anyway, back to my pyjamas...

The Piccadilly pyjamas are described as "a chic sleepwear set with oriental accents - a soft and open Mandarin collar and gently curving hems". I made view one - a cap-sleeved shirt and shorts. The shorts have a flat front waistband with ribbon tie, and an elasticated back. All of the hems are finished with exposed bias binding. The pattern also features patch pockets on the bottom of the shirt, but I chose not to use them this time.

This was my first time using a Nina Lee pattern, and I was really impressed with it. The instructions were very detailed, with good, clear diagrams, and everything matched up nicely when I was sewing. I bought the printed pattern and, in my humble opinion, it was definitely worth the extra money compared to a PDF. The pattern itself is printed on normal paper rather than tissue (much less risk of tearing), and the instruction booklet and pattern envelope feel like really good quality. I love the little illustrations on the pattern envelope too!

In terms of sizing, in this pattern my measurements put me in a 12 at the bust, between 12 and 14 at the waist and in a 14 at the hips. I made a straight size 12 for the shirt, and a straight size 14 for the shorts. The fit is pretty good as it is, although I'd possibly blend out to a 14 at the bottom of the shirt for a future version just to give a little bit of extra room.

In some ways, the trickiest part of making these pyjamas was deciding which colour from the print to pick out with the bias binding and then, once I'd decided on that (which was mainly determined by the limited choice of bias binding available in local shops, or suitable plain fabric to make my own), finding buttons that also coordinated. Apparently this is a particularly hard shade of pink to match (it's photographing almost as red, but it is definitely a deep pink in real life), but I got there in the end - and actually ended up using the pink version of the red buttons I used for my Carolyn pyjamas.

The actual sewing process itself was no problem at all. The skill level for the pattern is stated as advanced beginner, and I'd say that's pretty accurate. There are a couple of techniques that beginners might not have tried before, but the instructions are really thorough and they'll help you through if you take things slowly.

I'm really pleased with my Piccadilly PJs - they were a really fun pattern to sew, and I'm glad that this fabric has finally fulfilled its destiny and turned into something I can wear. This may have been the first Nina Lee pattern that I've made, but it definitely won't be the last. At the moment I've got my eye on the Kew dress to use with another long-term fabric stash resident - let's hope that I get time to sew it soon!

Sewing Lingerie - #sewoutofthisworld

After crossing one of my 2018 Make Nine projects off my list with my Carolyn pyjamas in my last blog post, today I've got another two of my nine finished and ready to share with you - specifically a Cloth Habit Watson bra and some Megan Nielsen Acacia knickers.

I've been interested in the idea of sewing lingerie for a while now, not least because it seemed like it would be a good way of using up leftover pieces of jersey, but it kept getting pushed down the sewing list in favour of garments that I could show off to the outside world.

When I heard about the Sew Out of This World challenge that is currently (until tomorrow anyway!) being hosted by Sew Loco, it seemed like taking on mission one of the challenge would be a good incentive to finally give lingerie making a try.

I decided to start with the easier half of my mission and tackle knickers first. The Acacia knickers are low rise bikini cut - a nice simple pair of knickers for my first attempt. Especially because this is a free pattern (who doesn't love a freebie?!). The fact that this is a free pattern in no way means that you're not getting something as good as if you'd paid for it - the fit is good, the pattern pieces all match up well, and the instructions are clear and thorough, even including three different elastic insertion methods (regular elastic, lingerie elastic and foldover elastic).

The knickers were really quick to sew, although it has to be said mine aren't perfect. This is in no way any fault of the pattern - it's just due to the fact that I hadn't used lingerie elastic before and my sewing in that area could definitely have been tidier. They're perfectly wearable though, which is the main thing!

Next, I moved on to the Watson bra. This is a soft, non-underwired bra with a plunge neckline and the options of a longline style or a shorter band - I went for the longline version.

Like the Acacia, the instructions for the Watson were very thorough - I particularly liked the fact that they included specific details on the width/length of zigzag stitch that should be used for each of the individual steps. This meant that the process was fairly straightforward, even though it was my first attempt at bra making.

While I didn't have any trouble working out what I should be doing, I did struggle a bit with actually getting my sewing machine to sew what I needed it to! Sewing the top of the cups down after looping them through the rings was a particularly tricky because the layers of elastic were quite thick, but I made it work in the end (although I wouldn't want the neatness to be subject to close scrutiny!).

Based on my measurements, I made a 38A and the bra fits me really well. I was slightly dubious about how supportive such a soft bra would be but, for me and my not-especially-large bust, it's fine for light daily wear.

The cherry print jersey I used for both of these project is left over from a top I made (but apparently didn't blog) a few years ago. The findings for the Watson came in a pack from Sewn (but Marie isn't running her shop at the moment), and the lingerie elastic for my Acacia was from this ebay seller.

Having finished my two original intended projects, I decided to go with the space theme of the Sew Out of This World challenge and make some star print knickers. This time I used the Scroop Patterns Wonder Unders pattern, which I'd bought a while ago with the intention of making the slip (haven't got around to that yet!).

These are very similar to the Acacia knickers, but with slightly more coverage. The construction was also similar, so there were no big surprises there. The major difference for me was in the elastics that I used for the two different pairs - both pairs use lingerie elastic, but the blue on my Acacia knickers is fairly soft and stretchy, whereas the black on the Wonder Unders is much firmer and needed much more force to stretch it to fit. Because of this, my Acacia knickers feel ever-so-slightly loose, while the Wonder Unders are a touch tight. Both are wearable, but with the benefit of hindsight and experience, I should probably have cut the Acacia elastic a bit shorter and the Wonder Under elastic a bit longer.

So, what's my verdict on lingerie making? Well, I'll definitely be making more knickers! They're a quick project, and a great way of using up leftover jersey. I'd quite like to try out a couple of other patterns to work out my perfect style, which I could then make over and over. As for bras, I'm definitely not ruling out making more, but there's a part of me that thinks that this is one case where M&S can probably do a better job! Have you tried sewing lingerie? Any patterns to recommend to me?