Sue Shoesmith from the Lewes Sewing Bees has made these beautiful Liberty Pyjamas. She’s used the new Felicite Teal from my new ‘Butterfly Garden Exclusive’ collection and it’s a great choice. The finished PJ’s are simply beautiful and it’s going to be really hard to send them back to Sue now that I’ve seen them! It’s such a special thing having a gorgeous set of pyjamas – we do spend a lot of time sleeping after all.
Before the summer holidays, I asked the lovely Lewes Sewing Bees if they wanted to use my new Butterfly Garden Exclusives for some of their sewing projects. They have made beautiful things from my previous exclusive collections and so I was super excited to return to the office last week to a bundle of beautiful and varied items. It’s a wonderful feeling opening up packages of gorgeous things made using fabrics that you have spent hours working on in collaboration with the Liberty Fabrics design team. Over the next few weeks I will be showcasing one of their lovely projects each Friday giving pattern and fabric details.
I asked Sue about making her pyjamas.
Why did you choose the fabric?
“I think my pyjamas have to be my favourite Liberty Tana Lawn project to date. I had been thinking about making a pair of piped pyjamas for a while and thought that Tana lawn would make them very comfortable. I prefer stronger colours rather than pastel shades and as soon as I saw the Alice Caroline 2020 exclusives range, I could visualise the ‘Teal Felicite‘ as pyjamas with contrasting piping – Plain Tana Lawn Blush.”
Which pattern did you choose and did you make any alterations?
“I chose a Butterick pattern (B6296) as I know Butterick patterns are a good fit for me and the pattern included piping trim which I particularly wanted. I ordered it online and was surprised when it arrived to see that the bottoms had back shaping and pockets but, as I had to master fine piping, I decided to use the pattern without modifications apart from adding 4 inches to the legs.”
I LOVE the gorgeous detail of the piping – was it difficult to do?
“I had originally planned to use bought satin piping and ordered some online but when it arrived I could see it would be too heavy for the Tana Lawn so I decided to make my own using a plain contrasting Tana Lawn. As it’s difficult to get a true idea of colours on a computer screen I left it up to the Alice Caroline staff to choose the contrasting Tana lawn (Tana Lawn Plain Blush), it is a perfect match.”
Do you love the finished PJ’s?
“This is my first attempt at piping a garment. I bought fine piping cord online and a small piping foot for my sewing machine, but using the piping foot I couldn’t make a neat job of it and was getting very despondent. I then discovered that using my invisible zipper foot on my machine I could make neat, fine piping. I’m very pleased with the result and I really enjoyed making them which has spurred me to continue with my dressmaking.”
What’s your next project?
“I’m currently making curtains (my least favourite sewing) but my next dressmaking project is the Merchant Mills Fielder dress which I’m going to make up in a Merchant and Mills linen/wool mixture, I’m also making 2 hand pieced quilts.”
What do you like sewing best?
“I can’t decide which I prefer best dressmaking or quilting. I like dressmaking because you can achieve results quickly but I find quilting more relaxing.”
Thank you so much Sue for sharing your beautiful Liberty pyjamas with us. I can’t wait to showcase the rest of the projects from the ‘Bees’.
