An easy sewing project: pj bottoms

two pairs of pajama bottoms, all tied up in ribbon for gifting

I hope your week is going well. In our house, we call Thursday, "Friday Eve". So, happy Friday Eve!

I had some serious sourdough bread cravings earlier this week. I got my sourdough starter fired up again, after a lot of neglect this winter. I left the sourdough sponge on the counter overnight, hoping to achieve a really good tang. It still turned out rather mild. I'll keep working on that tang that I crave.

one of two loaves of sourdough bread -- it goes fast around these parts

For now, though, I thought I'd share my adventures in sewing pj bottoms for my two daughters. For anyone interested in learning to sew, I wanted to show the process, so that you could determine for yourself if this was a project you would want to undertake.

Remember, I was making these as my Valentine's gift for my two girls. (from the post The Valentine Dog)

I have a short attention span for these sort of projects. I don't like to unnecessarily frustrate myself with a long stretch of sewing or other needlework. So, I limited myself to about 45 minutes to 1 hour at a stretch on these. It took 4 days of work to complete both pairs. If I was one who could tolerate doing it all in one stretch, I could have made these two pairs in about 3 hours (but I would not have been a happy camper at the end of it all -- hence breaking my work up into chunks).

I worked on the 2 pairs simultaneously. I pinned and cut out both pairs together. I sewed seams one pair right after the other. I hemmed and put in elastic waists, one pair followed by the second. This seemed to be the most efficient use of my time. My only wish is that I'd done a third pair, one for me!!!


Day 1: I sized down the pattern that I had for my own pajamas, from a Women's size 6-8 to a Junior's size 3-5. It was all guess work, as these were to be a gift, so done in secret. I used white tissue wrapping paper to transfer my pattern to. It's not as transparent as pattern paper, but it worked fine.

First, I laid out the old pattern on the table, traced the cutting lines for my size onto the white tissue paper. Then, I re-drew the cutting lines about an inch in on the straight side seams, and took up the hem by several inches. That was it for Day 1. It took about 45 minutes (a lot of time spent wondering if I was on the mark, size-wise).

Day 2: I pinned the new, white tissue pattern pieces to the fabric, and cut out. Again, for both pairs, this took about 45 minutes.

Day 3: I pinned my seams to be sewn,

then, sewed the two front halves together, two back halves together, the inner leg seam, and the side seam.

I trimmed and reinforced all seams with a zig zag edge, very close to the straight stitching.

This took me longer than previous days' work, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Day 4: I made the casing for the elastic waist, hemmed the legs, ran the elastic through the casing (using a safety pin to help thread the elastic), and sewed the little flower trim to the center front. I was done in about 45 minutes.

And both pairs were complete.

Pj bottoms are a fairly simple project for a beginner. If you take your time and break the work up into several sessions, a beginner could definitely do these. (Although, I would not recommend sizing down a pattern for a beginner. I'm just cheap frugal and didn't want to buy a new pattern.)

• For winter wear, I used flannel. Summer pj bottoms could be made from a woven cotton. I'd like a seersucker pair myself for wearing around the house on lazy summer days.
• Pj shorts would be even quicker to whip up, with shorter seams.
• If you have several kids to make pj bottoms for, (and you'd like them all to be of the same fabric -- some families do this at Christmas), you can use flannel sheets for the fabric, and save some money on the project.

You can see how they turned out. I was surprisingly close to accurate in my guesses on their size. I had left a tiny bit of stitching undone on the waistband casing, so that I could adjust the waist if necessary. After they tried them on, I closed up that small gap, and now I can hardly get my daughters out of their pjs on the weekends.

I'm beginning a small sewing project, using the scraps from this pillow that I made for the family room. More on that project another day.

Thank you for visiting today. It's been good to have you here.
I hope that you found inspiration, ideas, or just moral support, for your next project. 
May your day be full of cheer!

Saving money on groceries: Meet "neat" balls

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful weekend (with a holiday bonus, for those in the USA). I've been catching up on various tasks that were awaiting me when we returned from our trip to the sunshine.

Our weather has been a mixed bag, here. But that's typical of Seattle spring (okay, so it's still winter, but I can dream, can't I?). Sunshine on Friday, rain on Saturday, with hail in the evening, then just clouds on Sunday and Monday.

Late Saturday afternoon, very dark clouds rolled in. Looking out into the woods behind our house, I felt like I was living in a fairy tale. Not a fairy-tale life (too much grit in my own life for that), but something out of Little Red Riding Hood. I half-expected to see the Big Bad Wolf in the shadows of our uber-tall evergreens!

But all this gray was whisked from my mind, Sunday night, when a very sweet young woman friend of my son's, gifted me with these! She just knew I would be needing a spot of color in the house! Lovely, thoughtful girl.

On another floral note, the branch cuttings from the red-flowering currant that I took on Friday are very close to showing color. I'll post a pic when the blossoms open.

But, I'm way off topic for the moment. What I wanted to share with you, today, is one of the ways we save money on our grocery bill. We eat several vegetarian dinners per week, specifically, we eat beans. I buy them dry, in large sacks, spending somewhere around 75 cents to $1 per pound, dried. When reconstituted with water, this per pound price drops to about 40 cents, or so, per pound. Not bad for good quality protein!

So, beans are cheap thrifty (trying to banish that "cheap" word from my vocabulary). They're also a good protein source. They're high in fiber and low in fat. And beans are great for a cholesterol-reducing diet. Beans are an all-around healthy food that are light on your wallet, too!

I like to mix things up a bit with my bean preparation. After all, beans could get monotonous, if we only ate them in a few ways.

Here's one variation on the theme of beans -- "Neat" balls.

Meet "neat" balls.

"neat" balls on homemade wheat roll, topped with marinara and cheese

"Neat" balls are a vegetarian alternative to meatballs. They are bean and grain based, held together with egg.

A batch of about 35 "neat"balls (8 or more servings), costs about 65-85 cents, a fraction of the meat alternative.

In these photos, I've used black beans, as that's what I currently have in the pantry. But I've also used pinto beans, garbanzo beans and small white beans. I mash mine with a potato masher, but they can be run through a food processor, for a more uniform look (great for disguising the bean-iness from the finicky eaters in your household). You can make them with canned beans or cook your beans from dried.

Here's what I use and how I make them:

about 4-5 cups drained, cooked beans
2 large slices bread (I use whole wheat sandwich bread, but any bread product will do fine)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon beef soup base
4-6 small (or 2-3 large) cloves garlic
1/2 to 3/4 cup minced onion
dash red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup rehydrated bulger wheat (optional, but it gives a nice chew to the balls)

• Beat the egg in a large bowl. Tear the bread into pieces, and allow to soak in the egg. Mash or puree the beans into the egg/bread. Stir in remaining ingredients. Allow to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge, to firm up the mixture.
• Butter a large baking sheet. Form the bean mixture into walnut-sized balls and place on the baking sheet. 
• Bake at 350 degrees F (176 C), for 20-25 minutes, or until firm when pressed lightly.

before baking

These can be used right away, or frozen, as is (no sauce), to be used later.

Some variations on the "neat" balls themselves

• for Italian neat balls, add oregano, basil, parsley
• for teriyaki neat balls, add ginger and chives

after baking -- lightly browned and firm to touch, and ready to sauce up

"Neat" balls will fall apart if left to simmer in a sauce for a length of time. So, ladle the sauce over just before serving.

Saucing up "neat" balls

• We eat these Italian-style with a marinara sauce poured over, and served atop pasta, or,
• in marinara sauce, on buns, then topped with mozzarella cheese, and toasted under the broiler until bubbly, for "neat" ball sandwiches.
• "Neat" balls, served in a mushroom gravy is a delicious comfort food when served with noodles.
• If made teriyaki-style, I serve on a bed of rice and pour a thickened teriyaki glaze, with green pepper and pineapple, over all.

The texture of "neat" balls is not much like meat. As well, they tend to be drier. So whichever way I serve "neat" balls, I allow for a lot of extra sauce.

Mixing things up a bit with the beans.