I always have grand plans for making cool and comfortable pajamas that are both fashionable and pretty. I have yet to make a set that I feel fit this bill. I find myself saying “it’s a good thing these are pajamas” way too often. I want to get out of that mindset. I want any sewing that I do to be the best of my ability. I don’t want to cop out to “good enough”. This set was made using a thrifted fitted sheet. I disassembled the sheet using my seam ripper. I did this to give me more fabric to work with. As a bonus, I also was able to reuse the elastic, since it was only encased not sewn into it. I used it for the elasticating of the top.
The Shorts:
I find myself on the constant look out for a go-to pajama shorts/ pants pattern. I have tried the Darcy Boxers and now the PJ/ Lounge shorts from http://www.lifesewsavory.com. I must say, I am not a huge fan of either pattern. This pattern has a rather large waistband that didn’t quite match up to the size of the shorts so there was a lot of easing involved. I am not yet great at easing, so my waistband is quite wobbly and bulky. I am finding that I am not a fan of a waistband on pajamas. I think I missed the part where the pattern said to serge all of the raw seams before making up. This would have made the whole thing so much easier. I ended up trying to serge after it was made up and that made it very fiddly and messy. When I went back over the instructions, it did say to do that, so the fault was mine. I am not sure if it is my sewing machine, or thickness of fabric, but it wasn’t a smooth sew. My thread broke MANY times, which was incredibly frustrating. I tried decreasing the tension, which helped so much with the breaking thread, but then the stitches were loose and wobbly in several places. So, I am not sure what I should do that would resolve both issues. Something that I loved about this pattern is that it has pockets. I didn’t do a great job of sewing them, due to the not serging, as mentioned above. I am going to create a pattern pocket for miscellaneous “accessory” pieces and add this pocket template to it for patterns that don’t include pockets. My goal is still to find a great pajama short/pant pattern that has a regular elastic casing. Once I find this I will make All Of the Shorts.
The Top:
Oh My God, Becky, I “drafted” a pattern. I say drafted so incredibly loosely. I took a rectangle of fabric, hemmed it, created an elastic casing and created and added straps. This was not brain surgery, but I am so proud of it! I am proud that I thought to do it, and that I sat down and measured everything, and created templates (I will add the strap template to the new miscellaneous pattern pocket). My sewing is decent and I think it turned out pretty good. That being said, I made several mistakes. First, the length is way too short. For some reason I thought that I could pull off a 13 inch length. Once you hem and make the casing, you end up with roughly 10-11 inches. Oh hell no. I don’t like my tops, even pajama tops, that short. Especially since it blouses out. I am flirting with the idea of adding another elastic casing to the bottom. The next one I make needs to be cut at 17 inches long. I don’t mind cropped, but I do mind half tops. Second, I made the elastic too loose. This makes the top of the top very unstable (per my comfort level). Because there are straps, the loose top doesn’t affect the wearability, but it is less comfortable than it could be. The placement of the straps could be more precise, but I think that will come with more experience.
All in all, I think that I did a fairly good job on both pieces. While I am not the biggest fan of the shorts, I did try some new things, like the waistband. The top was 100% something that I have never done. Things that I want to learn more about is 1. how to smoothly serge a curved edge 2. how to serge a curved edge that you know will need to be clipped 3. how to cleanly place and attach straps to an elasticated edge. Is it better to place and sew before you add the elastic, or after? How do you measure properly if you use the before method? 4. Tension on both sewing machine and serger. How does this wizardry work and how often should it be adjusted on a project?
You can expect more pajama sets in the near future. I think I will follow the same drafted top idea. I will continue to look for some good shorts patterns in my collection. If I don’t have one I will resume searching on-line. And they will all have pockets! Nothing says happiness like pockets. I will have to go through my fabric stash and see what fabric I have to make another set, very soon.
Loves,
M
Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff 