Autumn Asks: Coffee anyone? And a tale of two pajama's.

I don't know what is up with me and the weird titles lately. I think it's Debbie's fault over at Suburb Sanity....she does that alot. Or maybe its the whole Facebook/MySpace status thing. My friend Julie always has something snazzy on those. See, I'm trying to learn from the masters.

Anyhow....

For Christmas this year we got Songbird a sewing machine. She was so excited. I was a little nervous because I figured she was either going to really love it...or really hate it. You never know with the teenaged animal.

She spent her time and her grandmothers wanting to sew constantly so I was hoping for a hit. Plus, she wanted a robe for Christmas so I bought a pattern and all the stuff she would need to complete a robe as another gift. I can't wait until she finishes it and I can spotlight it for you. It's very Punky Brewster meets the Pirates of the Carribean. Found a fleece with a crazy enough design to make her happy for sure.

Since we had Nano here with us at Christmas, my living room turned into a sewing room. It was very sweat shop looking in here for a week! All three of the ladies were busy with projects. Songbird was learning some basics (Yes I did get her the Sewing for Dummies book) and getting started. I had two projects. First was a pair of pajama's for Mighty Mouse...since she is outgrowing all of hers and wears her older sisters slips to bed (all tied up and falling off). It's a princess thing. Over my head. Second, I wanted to make a coffee sleeve for my friends.

(Does anyone else out there HATE paying for pajama's???? They are absurdly high priced and you don't even leave the house in them!!! I don't pay that much for outside clothes!!!)

Since I had two projects, mom wanted to do the pajama's for me while I worked on the sleeves. Since I was a little worried about the pattern I picked I was delighted to agree.

So here are some of my creations! I found the tutorial on the internet and the fabrics at a couple of different places. They were not hard to make...they were actually pretty fun. I can't speak for the others...but I love mine!

Mom made a nightgown and decided the neck was too big. This was my concern as I intentionally found a pattern with no buttons because I'm not a very experienced sewer. And mom is so good that she took the material, altered the pattern and made a SECOND pair out of the scraps. Now that is thrifty! I couldn't have pulled that off!
Excuse the incredibly crappy picture. MM picked out the material...it is ladybugs...her favorite. I tried to talk her into the monkeys but it was a no-go.

I'm hoping to spend more time on the sewing machine this year and even make a few gifts. I'm also hoping that Songbird does the same. I'd really like her to have the basics down at least by the time she heads to college.

On my list of things to make are a laptop sleeve...for my new laptop...and maybe as gifts for hubby and son. Also, Songbird's machine did not come with a cover so I found a pattern to sew one for her.

And did I mention that the coffee sleeve, laptop sleeve and sewing machine cover patterns were all free internet patterns? It's amazing the free patterns you can find!!

So what I wonder is how many of my freinds out there have a sewing machine somewhere, gathering dust? If you do, are you planning on dragging it out now that times are getting a little tougher and budgets a little smaller? If so, I'd love to hear what you are planning this year. I need more ideas.