Mark just visited Sri Lanka and a couple of days before he left he asked if I could make him some light, summery trousers for the non-work component of the trip. Enter deep stash! We ventured into uncharted territory and I had to ‘fess up that I had a large trunk of “secret” fabric,  and in there I thought I might have something suitable. A bit of burrowing revealed this lovely grey/khaki coloured cotton/linen combo from which I just squeezed a pair of trousers. I was so short of fabric that I had to cut the pockets out of an old sheet

I then lined the visible bit with a strip of fabric left over from the crotch section of the trousers so it looked like I had cut the inner pocket out of the fashion fabric. Worked a treat. My pressing skills are clearly not up to much though 🙂

I sent him off with strict instructions to send me photographs of said trousers in exotic locales – this is what I got – honestly, what sort of background is this?

The trousers weren’t looking too bad really. The shirt is one that I made for Archie when he was in his floral shirt phase, but then he outgrew it. It now sits in Mark’s wardrobe and goes brilliantly with these trousers. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged this shirt – all the facings are made from offcuts of Archie’s Christening gown, which is another reason that I could not bear to give it away. As I said, I am a tad disappointed that he couldn’t find somewhere a bit more interesting to take these photos – he even went to Galle, an old fort town and took no photos, but just to prove he’s somewhere exotic, here is a photo of a mango that he had for breakfast.

Impressive or what?

I need to report that he liked these trousers so much that he visited fabric stores (without coercion) to try and find similar fabric so that I could make him some more. I am enabling fabric shopping remotely, it appears :).

He’s home now and had bought so much fabric that he had to send it home in a colleagues suitcase so I haven’t seen it yet – wailing and gnashing of teeth here!

A few people have asked me how I can make so many things whilst working full time and I have to explain that Mark cooks all the meals and probably does most of the house cleaning. When he went to Sri Lanka he left me meals in the fridge and when he got home the first question he asked was what I wanted to eat. I suggested an omelette would be nice and this is what I got.

I have to report that a souffle omelette tricked up to look like pizza, tastes divine!

The details:

Trousers pattern is Kwik Sew 3663 made up in a cotton linen blend and I have no idea where I bought it! Shirt was originally made for Archie using Vogue 8800 from fabric that I had had for years, with facings made from remnants of his Christening robe.  Setting is Colombo, Sri Lanka.