dinotrews

I spotted this fabric on a Friday night, in a shop window in Monmouth (we were there to eat a large dinner the night before the start of the national mountainbike orienteering championships in the Forest of Dean). The website of the shop was written on its door, but didn't resolve to anything useful on the actual internet. However, after a bit of internet searching, I found the fabric manufacturer and code for the fabric, and was then able to buy it from eBay or amazon or somewhere. Still quite expensive, as it is a USA manufacturer, but it is also quite nice not-too-thin cotton and very bright. Anyways, these are just a simple pair of trews made from the usual pattern, one of the three things I stitched before our trip to Hamburg this month. Hopefully the other things will also make an appearance on this blog, once they have been photographed.

Double Bagging

James' swimming gear bag was a plastic rucksack that he picked up at the Vienna marathon. It eventually wore out two years ago, so I took the opportunity of his recent absence, visiting his parents, to stitch a violently coloured replacement. This is very much like the simple sack design, with slightly different solution at the bottom. The fabric is very stretchy, but it doesn't carry much weight, so that might not matter too much. I put a length of webbing inside the bottom of the bag, going widthways, attached to the bag at the edges. The edges of the webbing stick outside the bag to form loops, and cord is passed through these to form the straps.

Then there was the tiny running bumbag requirement. The original was a bag picked up at a race. There was a complaint that the zipper had broken so new was required. So I made a slightly generous replacement, only to find that his mobile phone would not fit in it without forcing it horribly. "Yes", says James, "that's the whole point. I need a bigger one." Pity he didn't tell me that at the start, but never mind, I had enough fabric to try again. I used the original webbing and some powerdry type of material for the body of the bag. There is a strip of elastic inside the bag to take a bit of the strain and also to use to stop things rattling about. And I attached some bright and reflective material as it is now so black it will get lost otherwise. Result seems to have gained approval from the running man. 

Pajamas

About a year ago I made a couple of pairs of pyjama bottoms out of cotton (I think perhaps I didn't bother to blog them), but this winter all my PJ tops wore out too so I have made a top to match one of the pair of bottoms. This is the same Jalie pattern I used previously. Our house is a lot warmer than our house in Japan, and brushed cotton is too hot, so these are just shirting weight. I just wear a t-shirt underneath if it is a bit colder. Picked up the fabric shortly before we left Japan in late 2013. It is very pretty at present, but the gold will wear off after a few washings.

bloooooo long sleeve

Found this lovely blue fabric on the remnants floor of Britex Fabrics in San Francisco when we were there for the AGU in December last year.  The shop assistants were a little surprised that my plan was to use it to make something for a man! But, anyway, here we are... I think it suits James very well. This was just the usual long-sleeve top pattern. Since the fabric is quite weighty and has 2-way stretch, and these long-sleeve tops tend to go a bit baggy round the neck, I added narrow elastic round the neck. This had the effect of making the shirt a bit short and I had to add an extra hem onto the bottom! The neck appears slightly gathered but it has already relaxed quite a bit and I expect it to do more so over time. 

I am a bit behind with blogging. This photo was taken in March!