Haven't I been busy

Right, so, lordy knows what I've been doing for the last however long.

Some of it has involved work. I think half term might have come in there somewhere. I went to a conference at Fire Service College so was away for the best part of a week with a pool, running, bar and an awful lot of carbohydrates. They do like carbs those fire fighters. I except the boys were ill.

However, I have also been doing lots of SEWING. I am very excited about sewing at the moment - it's so much quicker than knitting! It's the perfect instant gratification craft, and the longer the Phd drags on for, the more instant I like my gratification to be.

So, I've made some good kids' stuff, for mine and for other kids.

Child C is potty training at the moment, and every time we change him, he demands red trousers "my wear red trousers now mummy / daddy / insert name of temporary carer". He doesn't have red trousers. I did try and find him some, and got quite close in H&M. But they had hearts on them, and appeared to be bootleg. He's not that in touch with his feminine side so they weren't really an option. I had to make some.

Needless to say, there weren't any decent patterns for little boys trousers either, so I was forced I tell you to resort to the tried and tested 'drawing around a garment that fits' technique.

I think it worked - this is how I did it:

First, I drew round some trousers onto the wrong side of some red corduroy with nothing less than the sort of chalk you do pavement art with. Sorry, in my boys case, pavement 'art'.

F is front, B is back. the regular rectangle is for the waistband and the funny shape for the pocket.

At this point, I will warn you not to economise on fabric by folding it a different way - my nap runs in a different direction on each leg, giving a pleasingly harlequin type effect.

And why thank you, it is a nice rug isn't it. It's Iraqi, but we got it in Jordan quite a long time ago.

Then I ironed all the hems into the waistband and pockets. This is easier than pinning, and also I don't like people to think I can't iron, it's just I can't see the point except for sewing.

And then I sewed it all together. And in my haste for instant gratification (it's a drug you know) I forgot to take any pictures until they were done. But basically, I sewed the pockets on to the front, then sewed the legs together like in the dragon suit. Then I cocked about with the waist band because I didn't know how to do it. I'm not sure I did it correctly, but they stay up, aren't too bulky and were a whole new voyage into half elasticated waistbands.

See what I mean about the harlequin effect?