I intended to do some book sorting today, but haven't got round to it because of sewing. I'm working through history books, and have done Archaeology and Prehistory, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, The Celts, and the period of the English Settlement. Next should be Saxons before the Vikings. I have to work through all the other shelves, pulling out the relevant volumes (and the ones I missed in the last rounds), filling up the gaps created with the ones I've moved from the shelf the history will be on, and putting aside books for Oxfam. Also altering the layout of the shelves to be economical with the brackets.

I have nearly finished my waistcoat, only topstitching around the armholes and the neatening to do now. The pattern company's idea for turning inside out would not have worked, unless the garment was made in really thin fabric. The fronts were to be pulled through the shoulders. Once sewn up, these were only 3" wide, so diameter 2" as a tube. Pulling through a side seam was definitely easier than that would have been. The front is cut longer than the back, with points at the bottom, and curved edges to the opening. I have appliqued the pockets from the trousers to the fronts. The front pockets had a slanting opening, and on the other side, I have abutted them to a seam I had to put to get the right width. The back pockets which had button closures I have put above them, with the edge matched to the diagonal of the lower pockets. It does look intentional. Mum had made some self covered buttons in the lining material, and I'm wondering whether to use them as a fastening, but they aren't needed.

Penny