This year, for the first time, my eldest son and his wife hosted our Christmas lunch in their newly renovated house. Such was my excitement that I decided I wanted a new, Christmassy outfit and saw this one in a local shop (Seed), which I thought would do the job perfectly. I obviously set about copying it.

I loved the redness, but also all the scalloped edges. They were done separately and sewn on, so I thought I could do that too.

I had a deep dive in my stash and came up with this cotton lawn, which has self checks, not sure of its provenance but I do know it’s hung around for a long time.

I used my zero waste trouser block for the shorts, using elastic in the waist and completely forgetting it needed a zip. No worries, I can wriggle into them. I made the bands with the scallops a bit deeper and interfaced them, but in retrospect I probably should have doubled the fabric so the interfacing didn’t show, but there it is. Next time!

I used the scallop stitch pattern on my Bernina to create the edges and stretched it as far as I could without distorting it too much. The alternative was doing satin stitch scallops by hand or machine manipulation, and there’s a lot of them, so I knew that wasn’t going to happen!

The top is made using View A, Kwik Sew 2866 which has grown on sleeves and which seemed to be the perfect shape and used very little fabric. This pattern came from my mother’s stash but I’m not sure if she ever used it. I think it’s from the 1990s, but can’t be sure as I can’t find a date for it and it’s now out of print.

The other thing about the top is that I was, as usual, short of fabric, and the checks weren’t symmetrical, which caused me a lot of bother, but in the end decided that I had to live with it, so the checks on the scalloped trims don’t align with the other checks. I’m not sure anyone will notice though. I also didn’t have sufficient width for the shorts so they have a panel inserted down each side, but it’s cut on the cross grain so doesn’t match the front or the back. Again, not sure I really mind about this, and I had completely forgotten I’d done this until this very moment of writing, so clearly I’m not bothered.

I love the finished outfit, although I feel a bit like a Christmas elf wearing its pyjamas! We had a 41° day and I felt fairly cool in this light cotton fabric.

Here I am after a swim, so keeping it real with wet hair. It’s really hard to see all my scalloped trims but I can assure you that they are there.

The obligatory back view, nothing much to see here.

I also made my husband a few things for his Christmas stocking.

First up was a pair of socks made with the leftovers of Henrietta, the emotional support chicken, and Denim the doll’s hair. I still have a few scraps left.

Then I made him a long sleeved tee using the Merchant and Mill’s tee shirt pattern which I have made a gazillion times. I made the tee shirt and then realised that it was going to be too small so added a strip from wrist to hem on either side. I had already done this as a repair on one I made last Christmas and which hadn’t been worn as he was too polite to tell me it was too tight! They are now both in regular rotation.

The fabric is a beautiful Indian cotton which I may have bought at Woven Stories in Perth? No actual idea. The Handmade label was one I received at the Sewing and Knitting show at Alexander Palace. So thrilled I’ve been to Ally Pally!

I used the same pattern to make him a knit version. His sigh when he put this one told me everything I needed to know!

I have enough fabric for at least one more of these, which I’ll make before summer ends. No idea where the fabric came from but it is the softest cotton knit.

Finally, here are the granddaughters in their new swings on Christmas day. I think they look quite amusing. They are hung on a giant mango tree which is in their back garden and it’s clear they are still in the middle of a constructions site with a lot of building detritus all around. It didn’t stop them having fun though. Pepper is clearly on guard!