Little means quick

Time and again I find that I'm drawn to small, quick projects.  And that's always true when I'm in the middle of something long and slow.  Currently I'm well into the second sock of the pair I wrote about here, knitting a little bit each evening or when I'm sitting at the community centre while O has a ballet lesson.  But socks aren't knitted in a day (not by me, anyway), so I find myself wanting to sew something speedy at the same time.

I've been making a great many of these little zip pouches, using the pattern from Bend The Rules Sewing.  If I cut out the fabrics and find the correctly sized zips one day, then I can sew the pouches up in about fifteen minutes another day.  I love separating those steps of preparation and putting together.  Even though doing the whole thing  - cutting, pressing and sewing - from start to finish would probably take considerably less than an hour, having a ready cut pile of fabrics to sew makes me feel nicely efficient.

Baby clothes are the other obvious quick project, and happily I have two baby nephews who are not enough to object to appreciate funky fabrics.

For two-month-old L, I made this pair of little house trousers using the leftover Amy Butler fabric from the trousers I made for C at Christmas.  I used the pattern for the kimono pyjamas from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book - just making the pyjama bottoms.  All Amy Butler's patterns seem very long and complicated when I first look at them, but in reality they are straightforward because she explains every step very carefully and clearly.  That's what makes the patterns look so detailed.

I didn't think the elastic was tight enough in the waistband, so I cut about an inch and a half off, and I might take off a little bit more when I see L and can try them on him.  There was just enough fabric left for me to make a little reversible skull-cap hat as well, which I am hoping will not look too girly once it's on.

And when I took the trousers outside to photograph them on the washing line, I just had to dig C's out of the cupboard and hang them up next to L's to remind myself how much they grow!

Next on the list is another pair of these house trousers for my other nephew, and then some Clothkits projects that have been waiting patiently for me to get around to them for too long.