Sick-day PJs

Between the end of the school year for me and the kids, vacation on the East coast, and a general lack of interest in spending time in the hottest room in our house (my sewing room), I haven't been very productive, sewing-wise.  So, for my first day without kids (camp/ daycare) in a while, I was bummed when I came down with my a cold.  No one likes to be sick, however if I had to pick a day to fall ill, it would have been this day! With no work or children to tend to, I stayed in bed and read an entire book (The Martian, though not a typical choice for me :).  But I finished it around 2 p.m., and had a few more hours before kid pick-up.  Clearly, I needed to make a new pair of pajamas, in which I could convalesce for the remainder of my day!

Let's start with the fabric, since it's Liberty.  The print is "Sabrina".  (Okay, I just had to scroll through 8 pages of Tana Lawn prints to find this particular style, and sheesh, Liberty prints are gorgeous.)  The only thing more decadent than laying in bed and reading all day is a pair of Liberty cotton pajama bottoms.  Too bad I didn't have them on WHILE reading in bed all day!    

The pattern is a revision of something I drafted up a while ago.  With pockets, of course.  The pattern could use some more tweaking, but these certainly turned out wearable!

To do justice to this lovely, fine fabric, I used French seams all around, using this tutorial from Deborah Moebes for creating French seams with on-seam pockets.

French seam, with bottom corner of the pocket (hard to see!)

That's about it.  Not a difficult or exciting project by any means, but a good reentry into my sewing room.

I felt well enough today to knock something else off my summer sewing list....the excitement builds!

2015 Resewlution, July garment #1

PJs for my Grandpa

I miss my Grandpa--living clear across the country from my entire family, I don't get many opportunities to head back east to visit him.  So while watching the episode of the Great British Sewing Bee where they made men's pajamas (which, incidentally has been removed from YouTube and now I can't watch any of the episodes---waaaah!), I decided to sew up a pair for my Papa.  The prospect was a little daunting, though, given that his wife (my Grandmother Lucille, who passed when I was 8) was an exceptional and prolific seamstress.  I knew I was going to have a serious bar set for my work!

I used Vogue pattern V8964 and my sweet Aunt Claire provided the sizing information.  I made View D, with the only change to replace the hem pockets with a single chest pocket, giving the PJs a more traditional look.  I love that the bottoms have a functional fly front (open, with a single, hidden button to close), elastic waist AND drawstring.  I didn't take photos of the inside, but the seams are just finished with simple serging.

For the fabric, I spent some serious time on Mood, looking for a suitable color and pattern for my Grandfather and ended up with this grey and blue striped shirting from Theory.  It's just right for pajamas, nice and lightweight, but not see-through.  He said the pajamas were really soft, so that made me happy!

My Grandfather graciously agreed to having his photo taken and posted ("If you think I look alright", he said), so here he is:

Doesn't he look seriously dapper?  There were definitely some happy tears seeing my Papa, from almost 3000 miles away, in some jammies I made :)

KCW: Woodland creature PJs for both boys

A few more kid garments finished: some during the official "KCW" and the rest this morning. The boys can always use new pajamas, and they are fast and easy to sew up, so PJs it is!  Plus, who could resist either of these fabrics??

My older boy got some red fox pajamas (fox fabric from Girl Charlee, here and red ribbing to match) in honor of his favorite animal.  The pants are the "Sleeping Johns" pattern from Sew Liberated, while the top is a modified version of the Recess Raglan. 

The top could be a bit bigger, but the pants have room to grow (and jump!)

He wasn't so excited to try them on the moment he got home from school, but claims to like them, so score!

I even used my coverstitch machine to do some stitching along the neckline for his version!

My littlest man got the same PJs (scaled down) in a woodland animal print from Joann's.  It's a thick and soft fabric, and looks like it will withstand some washing without pilling.

Getting ready...

Jump!

Don't let the opening image fool you--this is what they are usually like:

Phew, that was rough...all that sewing for not myself!  And now back to the regularly scheduled programming.... 

Christmas pajamas, a week late

Truly, I had every intention of making pajamas for my boys, but I just had to cut myself a little slack in the days leading up to Christmas.  However, the next three months are going to be busy, so I want to get all my loose ends sewn up (haha!) before it all starts.  Since I was so excited about the printed fabric (more about that later!), my big boy's PJs moved up to the top of the list.

Sewing pajamas is fun--they're fairly quick and super satisfying.  For the pattern, I used the Recess Raglan (with much narrowed arms) for the top  and the "Sleeping Johns" from Sew Liberated.  Since I needed some knit ribbing for the cuffs and neckline, I ordered up some fabric from Hart's (and got it the very next day!). I knew it was sold as a "tube" of fabric, but when it arrived, I realized it was the perfect dimensions for my skinny boy. So, I cut the top as a single piece (no side seams!), then stitched the underarm seams on the sleeves. Since the fabric is nice and stretchy, setting in the raglan sleeves was a cinch.  Serging the ribbing on such skinny cuffs was a whole different story, though!

Okay, so I bought the gray knit ribbing from Hart's, but the real story is the printed "Mod Fox" fabric. My son LOVES foxes.  His love of all animals is pretty huge, but foxes are at the top of the list.  So, Spoonflower to the rescue!  The hiding foxes, the red/green colorway...it was too perfect, and seriously worth the price of a yard of the organic knit.  And of course, he loves it.  He insisted on wearing the PJs all day, and really, I couldn't bear to stop him :)

I've been sewing a bunch of other things lately, some of which I may post, but this is likely my last official make of the year.  My sewing may slow down in the next few months, but I'm registered to take an actual, college-level class in patternmaking starting at the end of January, so I am super thrilled!  I'm looking forward to seeing what this year has in store!

Kid's Clothes Week: Days 2 +3

 

Two days, two sets of pajamas!  First up, shorties for my big boy, in the "babyish" lizard print.  Having bought only one yard, I didn't have quite enough to make a second shirt AND shorts, so I used the orange rib for the body of a raglan top and the lizard fabric for the arms.  I like the look a lot, since it breaks up all those crazy-colored lizards.  I used a RTW shirt to rough draft the pattern for the top and used a short-length version of the "Sleeping Johns" from Growing Up Sew Liberated for the bottoms. 

The shorts fit him perfectly, but the top is a bit short.  No big deal--he's got a younger brother, so it'll get use regardless :).  And he loves them.  The photo of him at the top of the post was in the morning, after a night of sleeping in his new jammies.

I discovered the most perfect elastic ever.  Seriously.  If you make elasticized bottoms, buy this elastic.  It's nicely stretchy, and sewing through it doesn't make the elastic all wonky.  Beautiful stuff for pajamas (and hopefully pants, too!)

As usual, I used a 3-thread overcast for the main seams and double-needle with wooly nylon in the bobbin for the hems. 

Little man got a pair of PJs too!  His are in a colorful owl print, with the ubiquitous orange rib knit for the trim. 

I scaled down his brother's raglan shirt pattern and used size 3T of the "Sleeping Johns" pattern for the bottoms.  Wow, I love that pattern!  With only two pieces, it's super easy and fast; I timed this pair, and they took 30 minutes (including tracing and cutting out the pattern, measuring ankle ribbing and visiting my son's "pet store" to buy a stuffed dog). 

I altered the pattern by cutting off an inch or two and adding a rib knit cuff at the bottom so I could make them long and not cause problems when he's walking around.  Plus, that's what all the rest of his store-bought pairs have! 

I attached the ribbing before sewing the inseam, which worked great.  Really, I can't say enough about this pattern.  Unfortunately, much like when I made my first PUL diaper cover, I've realized that I can probably no longer purchase pajamas when they are so incredibly easy, fast and cheap to make. 

It took some cajoling to get a photo, but swinging with Daddy helped :) For the rest of the week, I have two projects planned:

• basic knit shorts for little guy
• this ridiculously adorable polo shirt.  I have to buy fabric!

I'm getting antsy to get back to selfish sewing...I have some patterns and knit fabric of my own waiting patiently...

Cozy PJ bottoms

I bought that sweet mug at a student pottery sale at my college yesterday!  

Even in a land where I know the location of 3 pairs of sunglasses and no idea where my umbrella is (and it's currently raining), cozy pajamas are a must-have in the "winter".  I purchased this fabric (In the Clearing Winter, part of the LouLou flannel collection by Anna Maria Horner) online, not knowing that the printed flowers were in lines across the width of the fabric , and not as an edge print.  Luckily I'm short, so I was able to cut the pattern using the width of the fabric, placing the floral pattern at the sides of the pants (the back matches the front).