My Jammies

Well, I'm a day late and a jammie top short, but here they are:

No, I will not be modeling these!  The slinky fabric of the bottoms is just way too revealing, and the old tee shirt I found to go with them is too tight to fit a bra under!  Which actually makes it good for sleeping - my old jammie top was so loose that it would twist around my torso in the night and I found myself constantly readjusting it.

Why the old tee shirt?  Well, I totally messed up the top and just didn't have the gumption to fix it or redo it.  The whole project just gave me trouble all the way through.  At first I was disappointed, but once I put this old top with the bottoms, I really liked how they went together.  And since one of my goals was to use up old stuff to make these, this top fit in.

Things were going pretty well with these pants until I got to the waistband.  The first problem I had  was that my buttonholer didn't want to work on this very sheer burnout knit, even though I fused two layers of tricot interfacing to the inside.  The first buttonhole went OK, but I ended up having to finish off the second one by hand.  It doesn't really show though when the bow is tied.

And then my machine just didn't want to sew the two lines of narrow zig zag I needed to create the elastic casings.  I had to pick them out three times!  But then, Hubby came to the rescue with an awesome anniversary present:

Gah!!  My very own coverstitch machine!  I'd been over at my friend Alicia's earlier last week and we played around with hers.  When I got home I told Hubby I wanted one too, and he bought it for me the very next day!  I told you he's a keeper!

I used the chain stitch to sew those casing lines - easy peasy and perfect first time:

outside

inside

For the center casing,  instead of elastic I used some old twill tape I had laying around that happened to match exactly with the tee shirt.  I'm pretty proud of how neat the ends are - I used that fusible web to fold back and secure twice before stitching.  That stuff has changed my life!!

Everything else was constructed on the serger, as I am wont to do:

And as in my original jammies, I finished the hem with a three-thread overlock (don't I sound all technical?!):

Normally I would think this is a cheater's finish and would go for a hem, but here I sort of like it.  It gives a little bit of contrast to that vast expanse of lavender and has a very casual feel.

I wore the new jammies last night for the first time, and they're quite comfortable.  I'm glad I finally found a use for this fabric.  I still have a little bit left and I'm thinking about making a simple tank out of it to go with these bottoms, but for now I'm happy to wear the old tee shirt.  I'm also happy that I made these almost entirely from stuff I already had.  The only thing I had to buy was the elastic!

Pajama Party!

I spent some time today working on my project for Karen's Pajama Party!  You may remember that my pajama-sewing time got usurped last weekend by the Hazel Dress :-)

I had originally planned to make pajama bottoms a la Noodlehead using this pretty paisley Anna Maria Horner voile, and use the Mission Maxi pattern to make an accompanying tank top.  But when I got out my old pajama pattern (circa 1999) and took a look at the finished measurements, I started having second thoughts.  I can still fit into that pattern, but I've become accustomed to wearing PJs made of knit, so I'm not really sure how comfortable those pants would be - I have expanded a little over the last 14 years!  Meanwhile, my ability to get a good night's sleep has flown the coop - thank you, Menopause!  I toss and turn a lot, and it's more comfortable to do that in a knit!

So I decided to try to replicate my very favorite pajamas:

My mother-in-law, who lives in Turkey, has a friend who owns a pajama factory (!).  Many years ago - probably 10 - she took me to their showroom so I could get some PJs at wholesale price.  I think I picked up about 4 different sets that time, but these are the ones that have been worn almost constantly every summer since.  They came with a pair of long pants too, and the elastic is totally shot on those!

I'm planning on using my existing pajama bottom pattern to make long pants, but I've revised the pattern to look a little more like that Noodlehead tutorial.  I took 2.5 inches off the top, and then drafted a separate waistband piece which I'll make with a coordinating fabric.

Actually, I hesitated to use the word "drafted."  It's just a rectangle!  But I did have to do a tiny bit of math and measuring.

Then I pinned out my PJ top and traced off pieces for the front, back and sleeves:

The raglan on my old PJs is interesting:  the sleeve does not extend all the way down the raglan opening.  Instead, the bottom of the armhole is finished off with binding.  The effect is that the raglan ends at the edge of my shoulder, rather than making a cap sleeve.  I'm planning on making mine the same way.

I'm going to use some modal blend jersey that I bought from Fabric.com last year when I first started sewing with knits and didn't know what was what.  It is way too slinky for clothing, but I'm hoping it will be just right for PJs.  The main fabric is a medium lavender, and for contrast I'm going to use the leftovers from my first Cation Designs dolman tee.  I think the pale yellow and white burnout will coordinate nicely with the lavender.

And here's my pattern, referenced above:

I made the long-sleeved/long pants pajamas twice back in the day, both in flannel.  Hubby hated them because they were so un-sexy.  Hee hee hee.  But they were warm and comfy, and I wore them until the fabric got so thin it started to tear.  Depending on how my knit pants turn out, I may still consider using this pattern to make the voile PJs.  I do quite like the robe.  Here's a picture of the backs of the garments from the envelope:

I'm breaking this project down and stretching it out like I did with the Hazel dress.  Today I just got my patterns ready.  Tomorrow I'll cut out my fabric - and maybe start sewing, depending on what else I've got going on.  I've got all week to get these done.  And do consider whether or not I'll be posting pictures of myself in pajamas for the whole interwebs to see!  Pretty sure the answer is no!

Who else is attending the Pajama Party?  I wanted to do it last year but wasn't able to because of travel, so I was really glad Karen decided to do it again this year.