Nancy's dungarees (missing elf returns...)

Anna bit into a butterscotch cookie, and the taste of toffee and vanilla filled her mouth. She allowed herself a small moan of pleasure before placing the biscuit down and wiping her hands carefully on a tissue.
      "So you got the coat finished all right without me?"

    "Yeah. No problems," she heard Ned saying from beneath the table. "I wondered where you were. Something come up?"
    She wished that she could see his face. Had he missed her? Her shoulders slumped; he sounded as if he was only asking out of politeness. She arranged the edges of the front legs of the dungarees under the sewing machine.

      "Ready, go...." The machine whirred  into action, the needle dipping in and out of the fabric, the point flashing under the spotlight. "Nothing exciting, just Timmy had chicken pox." It hadn't been an easy week. Timmy was never an easy elf to watch without being covered in itchy spots. She guided the cloth under the machine foot, calling out instructions to Ned when needed.

Finishing the front, she moved on to the back seams. First the centre seam, then attaching the yoke. She rubbed her tired eyes, and gave a yawn. "It doesn't feel like I've slept all week."

     "Couldn't someone else look after him?" called Ned. Anna frowned. Just like a man, she thought. Timmy was her responsibility. With her parents no longer with them, her brothers needed her more than ever. She looked at the front of the dungarees and decided something more was needed.

Together they sewed the shoulder straps, lining them with the same fabric before turning them inside out.

Finally she sewed around the edge, securing the facing in place.
 She watched Edward sew the tiny purple buttons in place, his eyes intent on his work. His hand sewing was always neat, and he worked so quickly, as if it came as naturally to him as breathing. She wondered how long he'd been sewing for. Really, considering she'd seen him nearly every week for the last few months, she knew very little about him.

Proof!

They came! This morning I came downstairs to find that my little pair of elves had paid me a visit during the night. They had taken my 1.5m of fabric, and machine quilted it. The fabric is Makower and is part of their new hearts and stars range.

The machine stitching is with a 6mm stitch length, and it follows the paths between the individual garlands, so that none of the hearts or stars got distorted. The lines are about an inch apart, so the combined fabric should act as one piece.

This is all that remains of the muffin. There isn't even a single chocolate chip left. There are quite a lot of crumbs though. I guess if you are a little elf it must be difficult to ate a muffin bigger than your head without dropping at a least few crumbs.  Perhaps I should invest in a couple of elf sized plates?

Now there might be some of you disbelievers out there who can't figure out how a small elf could use a sewing machine. Obviously I do have to put it out on the table, as anyone whose lifted a sewing machine knows just how heavy they can be. The elves solution to using a sewing machine is simple; one uses the foot pedal, the other directs the material and calls out instructions. That's why they tend to come in pairs. It takes dedicated team work, and usually when elves pair up and start sewing, they stay with the same partners for life.

Never having seen the elves in action, I'd like to think that they take turns on who operates the foot pedal. After all, it must be dull work, sat in the dark working a pedal, with only the gentle glow from the machine light above them.

When their work is over, and daylight starts to creep around the edge of the curtains, they put down their little scissors, and folding the material neatly, they silently leave the house. During the winter months, I tend to leave my material cupboard slightly ajar, and they have a little nest amongst my wool stash. As summer approaches, they like to sleep in the garden, curled up in a shady spot.

Now I've just got to cut my pieces out for the main part of the coat. You can leave this to elves, but they have no sense of fabric conservation, and often cut the first piece out right in the middle of the fabric. This is okay if you have a lot of fabric, but otherwise you can end up not having enough to finish the job.

Besides, it will give me a chance to do a bit more baking...

The beginning...

I decided this morning that it's time to finally prove the existance of dressmaking elves.

Most people don't even know that they exist. They just blindly assume that clothes are made in large factories, or occasionally by enterprising grandmothers. And they're right of course, but the real sewing goes on when the workers clock off in the evening, and the lights dim.

The elves creep out from the nooks and crannies and settle down to the serious business of inserting a bound pocket, or the impossible task of fitting a sleeve cap in without getting any tucks. Fuelled only by what they can find in the tea room's biscuit tin, these elves create magical garments.

I've been making my own clothes for more years than I'd like to admit, but since having children, I'd had to rely more and more upon those helpful little elves. I'd like to take all the credit, I really would, but it wouldn't be fair. They deserve to have their story told.

Tonight I'm going to leave out a 1.5m of cream quilting fabric, and the same length of supersoft polyester wadding. I want to make a coat for my daughter, Ellie, who was two at christmas. I'm using the cream fabric for the outer material, and the patchwork style fabric for the lining and details like the collar.

Now I can claim credit for the pattern, which was painstakingly drawn out on a big roll of paper.(If you leave out pencil and paper for an elf, you just get left with a big mess.) As I was doing this during the day, the pattern was enhanced by wax crayons by Ellie, drooled on by my 6 month old baby, Nancy, and both cats, Max and Paddy, rolled on it at some point!


I decided to quilt the outside fabric rather than the lining as I want to put little welt pockets in the front and I want Ellie's hands to stay warm.

I've also left out this homemade chocolate muffin. I stocked up my baking cupboard recently, and have an obscene amount of sprinkles and chocolate chips, so you can expect to see some pretty overloaded cupcakes in the future. This cake looks understated, but contains both plain and chocolate chips!

Now I just have to wait...