More Dino Shorts

I got this t-shirt fabric from Fabricana in 2023, at the same time as my lurex for the bell bottoms. I thought Big Sis needed a t-shirt, but she decided it was too pyjama-like and so she would like some sleep shorts.

I went back to Sew Over It's Poppy Playsuit pattern, my favourite elastic-waist shorts pattern. I've been making the shorts in size 10/12 here and here but, in this fabric, they came out absolutely huge! Maybe it is because it is a stretch. This is ironic because I struggled to fit all the pattern pieces on the right way up. The back pieces were in danger of being cut upside down. Instead, I re-traced the pattern to remove 1cm from each seam allowance so that I could get everything on the right way up. I was planning to overlock the seams, so I only needed 5mm.

They were a very straightforward sew, side seams, crotch seam, waistband fold and hems.

Costs:

Fabric: Fabricana, $16.78

Pattern: Sew Over It, $0.00 (used previously)

Thread: eBay, $1.00

Notions: Waistband elastic $0.00 (upcycled)

Total: $17.78

Dino Shorts

I had 1.15m of dinosaur poplin left after the Dino Overalls, so the obvious garment to make was a pair of shorts. In fact, I think shorts are more practical and wearable than the overalls, although these do look somewhat like pyjamas.

I used the shorts pattern from the Sew Over It Poppy Playsuit, which I had used for myself a few years ago. It was great to have these to check the fit (no changes) and remind myself of the construction. I did flat felled seams for the legs and a french seam for the crotch. The waistband was elastic from an old pair of boxers, just folded over at the top of the pattern pieces. No additional waistband piece.

I didn't stitch down the cuffs at the top, just the bottom. For which I needed to do two rows, because I missed some parts on the first row. I also secured the cuffs at each side seam.

I cut pocket bags, but I forgot to put them in. I didn't want to re-do flat felled seams. I'll have to keep those pockets for another garment.

This really is the perfect elastic waist shorts pattern. I got some stretch dino fabric recently. I was thinking of a t-shirt, but she says she needs shorts more.

Supplies:

  Fabric: $0.00 (used previously)

  Pattern: $0.00 (used previously)

  Notions: $0.00 (stash thread, upcycled elastic)

Total: $0

Girl's Summer PJs Refashion

With sincere apologies to my mother's lovely, gorgeous and talented friend, who made this nightie for her: I have refashioned it into girls' summer pyjamas.

The original nightie was super-fun to wear for the "before" photos: floor length and billowing fabric, but not so fun to sleep in. There was just too much fabric, and the underarms were a little too tight so the lace scratched my arms.

When I opened it up, I could see that it was just two straight rectangles, sewn selvedge to selvedge. It was very nicely done, and yielded about 2.5m of fabric, plus a lot of lovely lace and ribbon. I used almost all the fabric for these pyjamas, with none to spare. Partly because I had to work around a few stains as this nightie is quite a few years old.

For my pattern, I used Simplicity 1504 in the Child/Teen size M. There are a few printing mistakes on the pattern pieces, some of the child ones say teen/adult and are in fact child/teen. The sizing on this pattern is also a little funny in that the adult XS fits in between the sizing for the child M and L and then the child L fits between adult XS and S. They shouldn't bother with the whole child / adult sizing and just carry on up the chart, but I suppose customers are used to picking a certain size.

I shortened the sleeve to 28cm, to include a cuff detail. The legs, I shortened to the lengthen/shorten lines and then removed another 1 1/2 inches. I should have flared out for the cuff piece, the legs taper to the cuff and I lost some width when I turned them up.

I spent a long time adding piping to the front facings, the collar and the pocket pieces, plus the hem and sleeve cuffs. All told, it needed 3.4m of piping cord. I used one of M's old work shirts for the piping fabric. It was nice and stiff, which I needed since I was pulling apart a 3mm piping cord to make 1mm and the bumps show through if the fabric is not made of stern stuff. Plus, free fabric! All I had to put in to this whole project was the interfacing, piping cord and waistband elastic.

I made two breast pockets - the fabric is very sheer - and did a top hem, rather than piping around the bottom. I stitched a line of stitches around the fold lines of the pockets, and a row of gathering stitches around the corners to draw them up more neatly. Still didn't get rounded corners 'though.

I tried to start tracking my hours of work on a project. Not that I am trying to put a value on my labour - this is a hobby - but I thought it would be interesting to see how much time I do invest in these things. But I sew in bits and pieces of stolen time and if I record when I start, I usually forget to note when I finish.

After piping, a huge chunk of time was spent doing flat felled seams on every single seam. I stitched the seam allowance to the underside for the top, because this looks neater, and to the outside for the shorts, because I think this is more comfortable to wear. I used Carolyn's tutorial for sewing a flat felled seam on a curve. These meant that I had to set the sleeves in flat, and then sew up the side seams and underarm seams.

I added a back facing too, as I did for my adult version. I had forgotten that I'd done that. I think the collar is too heavy to just sit there on the back piece all by itself, and it neatens up the whole back neckline easily.

I made the cuffs by turning up the sleeves and leg cuffs. By sewing the piping to the bottom edge of the wrong side, I could fold it up, right sides together and flip it to the inside of the cuff piece. So the cuff is an additional single thickness, plus seam allowance. I made the separate casing for the waistband, thinking it was slightly smaller than the top of the shorts, meaning a few less gathers on the elastic itself. But it turned out to be the same size, so a higher rise would have been easier. I used 71cm of 20mm elastic. Since I can't at all tell the front from the back, I'll add a ribbon tie at the front.

The pockets would have looked better at hip height, but I wanted a bit of additional modesty at the front. You can see a pattern of her swimsuit through the sheerness of this fabric. Which my iron told me was polycotton.

Costs: 
 Fabric: upcycled, £0 
 Pattern: used previously, £0
 Notions: 
   Lightweight Interfacing, 50cm: £2.26
   Piping Cord, 112cm: 49p
   20mm white elastic, 71cm: 49p
   Buttons, from school uniform: £0
Total: £3.24

American Girl Molly Pyjamas

Emily Bennett is modelling a pair of, her friend, Molly's Pyjamas today.

These are from the back of the internet archives, where the AGD original patterns are available.

It is so much fun to see how different the original company was, before it was sold to Mattel. The clothes are far more historically accurate, but much less commercially appealing.

I have made Molly's Party Dress so I set about making her pyjamas too. These are not the same as the ones that were on sale with the Molly doll at the time she was last withdrawn from sale (Dec 2012). These are red and white stripes that happen to be the exact match with the girls school uniforms. So I have plenty of fabric to hand. I asked my fellow parents who run the second hand uniform sale if I could have any of their cast off shirts and summer dresses. These would normally go in the bin because they are too stained or worn out to sell as used. The winter shirts are especially good because the girls wear a pinafore over the top. The lower back and lower fronts of these are typically completely unmarked.

So I had my fabric and my pattern, and I really did need to get on with these to make the Emily doll some Molly pyjamas. 

I finally got the kick I needed when Youngest told me she was looking forward to seeing which of her dolls would be wearing a new outfit on the morning of her birthday. Oops! Nothing was planned! I realised I needed to get making in September to be on time for Christmas so that the elves could dress the dolls for Christmas morning. (In reality, I completely forgot I had these to give and she got them a month later for her birthday.) 

It is a very fiddly pattern. I find all the doll patterns fiddly, especially because of the 1/4 inch seam allowance. This one was the worst so far! The collar is part of the front bodice piece, so you have to make the notch. I didn't get my reinforcing stitch exactly on top of the first run of stitches, so it wouldn't lie flat until I cut one of the stitches. The back of the collar is not nicely rounded, very pointy. If I did this pattern again, I would create a more curved shape here. Finally, sewing the back to the front, around the collar, took quite a bit of mental energy. The pattern says to stitch all in one line, along the shoulder seam, then back, then the other shoulder seam. No diagram either. I found it easier to join the back neck to the collar piece, then clip the pieces so I could get the shoulder seams to touch each other. I sewed these separately. I would have had to do some fancy folding if I hadn't clipped. I didn't get the curved pocket to curve nicely. I would do a square pocket next time.

As usual, there are no instructions to finish seam allowances. Possibly because these patterns are for experienced sewers, so no hand holding. The fabric doesn't fray too much and the garment won't be washed, so I was tempted to leave them as is. I zig zagged the back neck, side seams and cuff seams, for a neater finish. But it wasn't overlocker-worthy.

The waistband instructions for inserting elastic in the pants didn't work for me. Instructions, as followed: zig zag elastic to top of raw edge. Fold over, sew two rows of straight stitch, while stretching, one to top edge, and one to bottom edge. Maybe I wasn't stretching hard enough, but the two rows of straight stitch made the elastic too loose and wavy. Unpicking them is tedious work.
I tried replacing two straight rows with a second row of zig zag instead. It was still wavy and I don't like how it leaves the raw edge exposed on the inside. Unpicked again and added a waistband to make proper waistband channel. (I also prefer this method because if the elastic goes, it can easily be pulled tighter or replaced.)

The cuffs on the trousers were a bit of a faff, and the finishing wasn't great, so I used the same method as I did for my PJ shorts, thereby enclosing the raw edge inside the cuff. If I made these again, I would attach separate cuffs in the method of the sleeve cuffs. It's much easier to do and I don't like the non-matching cuffs between the top and the bottoms. One of them has the stripe running horizontal, the other vertical. 

I did real buttonholes, the girls are old enough to manage fastening them by themselves. The tie belt was left unfastened and the recipient prefers the pjs without the belt and the belt being used as a hair ribbon!

Cost: free

Daydream PJ Shorts

I am lucky enough to know Suzy Taylor in real life, and she does folk art beautifully. Cute but not cutesy, her work looks very contemporary. She is known for her papercuts, and also work in ink and clay, and now fabric! This fabric is from Suzy's first collection, called Daydream, and as soon as I saw it, I had to get some.

Stocked in the UK by Cotton Patch, I was really drawn to this print. I love these soft greens, in three different shades, with pops of pink, magenta and yellow. It makes me happy every time I look at it. Plus, I love the cute touch of putting dragonflies, instead of circles, in the selvedge where they match up the colours for printing. So adorable!

Now, let's think for a moment. I bought a metre of quilting cotton, in a cute print, I have children. What should I make? Something for me to wear, of course!

With only one metre, I set out to make some pyjama shorts. I went back to the Poppy Playsuit pattern, for the second time in two months, and decided to adapt that to shorts. I knew the top was really roomy, so I was counting on the shorts to be the same, and the elastic waist is the right style for PJs.

Because of the directional nature of the print, in order to fit the pieces in, I had to shorten the shorts to remove all the cuff allowance, and the elastic casing allowance at the waist. It turns out to be fine. The Poppy shorts come up very high on the waist, and the cuffs are very low on the leg. (I like my pyjama shorts to be quite skimpy!) 

I wanted to do light green piping, but I had this pink to hand, and it was a perfect match. So, in the spirit of "use what you have, and stop buying new", I used it. I did buy webbing for the waist tie though. It turned out to be too bright of a green (pistachio, not sage), so I didn't use it in the end.

I could have pieced cuffs or a waistband from the offcuts, but in the end, I did neither. The total length was much longer than my other favourite PJ shorts, so I made cuffs and the elastic casing without attaching any more fabric. 

Here's what I did instead of cuffs: 

1. Finish raw edge of leg cuffs (by overlocking)

2. Attach piping, to right side, one inch above raw edge. Piped edge faces raw edge (down) and raw edge of piping faces up.

3. Fold overlocked edge down (wrong sides together), fold piping edge up (wrong sides together), the inch between the piping and the raw edge becomes the visible cuff. You now have three thicknesses of fabric, with the raw edge tucked away and the piping sticking up out of the top. Pin. 

4. Stitch two rows of topstitching, one at edge of cuff to secure the edges and the other underneath the piping to secure the piping and the top of the cuff in place.

The topstitching is a bit of a shame, but this fabric is not soft or drapey and the cuffs are not uncomfortable.

Did you notice my beautiful flat felled seams for the outside seams? I couldn't do the same for the rest, but I did manage to do French seams.

The elastic waist is overlocked, turned and topstitched down. 

I stitched the casing down, with the elastic and webbing inside. Not the easiest way to thread an elastic waist, but necessary if you want to use the cast off waistband from your husband's worn out underwear. Literally fished out of the bin. 

So now I have a complete pair of pyjamas, it's just that they comprise my thickest, warmest winter top and my summery-est summer bottoms!

Supplies: 

 Fabric: 1m + postage, £16.80
 Pattern: used previously, £0.00
 Thread: used previously, £0.00
 Notions:
  140cm bias binding, stash, £0.00
  2/3 x 70cm piping cord (thinned to 1mm), £0.44
  1m x 11mm cotton webbing tape, (not used) £1.87
Total: £19.11

Feather PJ Top

Ahh, family jammies... We should all have dreams in life. 

The full set of matching family jammies is still quite a distant dream. I have started with a top. 

Just a top. Not even a proper set of pyjamas. I'm calling it a finished project, because I have not got enough fabric for the bottoms and I'll have to wait until I am lucky enough to go to Spotlight in Australia again, and hope that they still have this fabric. If not, I have another set of jammies waiting in the wings; and I will make bottoms with one half this fabric, and the other half from the other set. Matching!

But back to the top.

Simplicity 1504 jumped into my online basket when Minerva were having a sale in 2014. I couldn't resist the idea of making Christmas PJs. Again: distant dream.

This feather fabric was on sale at Spotlight, for an astonishing $3 per metre. That's A$ ! Unfortunately, I thought I needed 3m and I actually needed 4m. But 3m has been enough to make a top and cut out half the bottoms. Actually, the sizing on this pattern is so GINORMOUS that I might have been able to make the set with 3m.

Adjustments

Based on my measurements, I cut the size Adult Small. Next time, I will most definitely make an XS. I didn't bother with my usual waist shortening and sway back adjustments, because I knew it was a loose design with lots of ease.

• Reduced collar width by removing 1/2 inch from the outside edges.
• Added piping to the notched collar
• Back facing added and stitched down across back.
• Smaller cuff on sleeves: Added 1/2 inch to length of main sleeve, reduce cuff by 1.5cm
• Reduced sleeve with. Took off 1/2 inch from width of sleeves at cuff. Graded out to meet original sleeve head.
• Cuff dimensions 14 inches x 5 inches. Should have interfaced cuffs.
• Reduced total length by 2 inches. 1.5 inch hem allowance.

Piping

I was planning to use a solid pink cotton that I bought at the Knitting and Sitching Show. But, it turned out to be not quite the right shade. There are three shades of pink in this fabric and I felt that the piping should match one of them. Instead, I discovered that I had saved a knit toddler dress, intending it for a refashion, and it was exactly the shade I was looking for. Making piping out of knit fabric was a bit of a pain. Of course it stretched out of shape during the making, and I had to hand baste it to the edges.

The piping widths do vary. I had a length of No2 (2.5mm), which I used for one front, before I ran out. My replacement was not the same. It was actually 3mm wide and twisted from three strands. Instead of returning it, I found that if I untwisted them two of the strands were 2.5mm thickness. I tried this along the other front edge. I didn't like it that much because you can see lumps and bumps through the knit fabric. For the collar, I used just one of the twists and I liked that finish much better. Total requirement for piping is about 2.7m. (Collar = 70cm, front facing x2 = 60cm, notched collar x2 = 3cm, sleeve cuffs x2 = 78cm). The pattern envelope very helpfully calls for "two pkgs. of piping".

While we are talking about baffling, why doesn't the pattern instruct you to add piping to the top edge of the front lapel? They have quite carefully hidden it in the photos, but it definitely isn't there. I added a small section of piping to this edge, about 2.5cm. I didn't join it to the main edge, just stitched it down with the seams. I don't think the joins show too badly. If I made a rounded edge to the lapel, I could make one continuous strip of piping.

I skipped the front pocket. If I had made it, I would not have made it with the piped edges. Who has ever seen a pocket like that? A more traditional pyjama pocket has the piping across the top of the pocket, set about 2cm from the top. I am still open minded about adding a pocket. Having a monogram would be fun, but making it would not be. I would have to do it by hand since my machine does not do embroidery. I'll decide after I have made the pants, in case I need every last scrap just to get them completed.

Finishing

I finished the inside edges of the facings with a hem that I also zig zagged into place. These will get a lot of wear and I want them to be durable. I also added a back facing. The finish at the collar on the pattern instructions is quite nice, but the front facing shoulder edges are just left dangling which I didn't like. I had a look at my RTW pyjamas and they have facings. They are stitched down with stitching that is visible from the outside, but I was completely surprised that I had never even noticed them before. I drafted mine from the back pattern piece and matched up the width of shoulder seam at the front facings. I am also happy to have the reinforcement in this area, which gets a lot of heavy wear, plus it will give extra warmth. 

I should have done flat felled seams at the shoulder seams. Instead I overlocked them. I did do flat felled seams for the side seams. I used a contrast thread for the outside, partly because I had almost run out of the main thread. (Bought by my Mum to make me curtains for my very first solo bedroom - when I was 13! I still remember those curtains, and I have found the light silvery grey blue an incredibly useful thread colour.)

I hemmed by turning up twice. Nothing fancy. 1.5 inches hem allowance was fine.

Thoughts

As I went along, and tried on the finished pieces, I could see how large it was. The shoulder seams fall about 10cm from my actual shoulder. I knew the pattern was large, but this was ridiculous! Who wants an overcoat instead of a pyjama top? Double breasted, not less. There was that much space. I would not go to a great deal of fiddling around with the pattern to make it smaller. I'll just go down to the XS size. I could even go into the children's sizes, they may not be cut for a different body shape, since the adult size is for men too. When I eventually get around to making the kids PJs, I might size down for them too. Especially if they actually need them to wear in the same winter. I'm all for children growing into things, but there is no point wearing things out before they have grown into them.

Materials
 Fabric: 3m (Spotlight) £5.46
 Pattern: (Minerva) £4.65
 Interfacing: medium weight (Spotlight) £2.20
 Piping fabric: upcycled £0
 Piping cord: (£2.20 + £0.44) £2.64
 Thread: silver £0, pink £0, overlocker (new light grey spools x4) £7.57
 Buttons: 5, up cycled from school uniforms
Total: £22.52

But... I have counted all the fabric, all the pattern, new overlocking thread, and all the piping, some of which went on my Peony dress. True total is more like £12.75 with £1 bottoms to follow.