Pajama Time!

It seems like my kids always run out of things that fit in stages that go by types of garment. Around Christmastime I realized that Mr. T was in desperate need of new pajamas. His old ones were all too small and I was reluctant to go out and buy new ones, given the vast stash of fabric in my storage room. So I got out a pile of knits and had him choose 3 prints to work with, for 3 new pairs of pajamas. He ended up choosing a print with dogs (some of which are blue) on yellow, a jungle print in green, aqua and brown, and - his absolute favorite - a "breakfast" print of eggs, bacon and toast. Breakfast-themed prints seem to be his thing; his favorite RTW t-shirt is a face whose eyes are fried eggs and whose mouth is a strip of bacon. Go figure.

I used my go-to pj pattern, the "Stripey Legs" pants and "Night Owl" shirt  (nos. 34 and 35) from the Winter 2009 issue of Ottobre. This issue is one of my favorites and I've made quite a few things from it by now. Since I wasn't sure if I'd have enough of the prints to do both the shirt and pants for each set, I decided to throw in a complementary stripe for each one: two-tones of blue rib knit for the dogs, green with white stripe interlock for the jungle print, and yellow and orange rib knit for the breakfast print. I used brown ribbing for the cuffs of the jungle and breakfast prints, and a cobalt blue ribbing for the dog print.

Crazy before bedtime.

I've made this pattern a couple of times and used a few different techniques to sew it together. The directions call for you to lap the seams and then sew them with "a flat lock stitch", by which I assume they mean a coverstitch. I don't have a serger that does a coverstitch so I've used the honeycomb stitch on my regular machine in the past and that's one they recommend in lieu of the coverstitch. I've also constructed them using regular seams and topstitching them. This time I decided to try a flatlock stitch on my serger, which gives a smooth seam on the inside and has the seam allowances on the outside. It worked out okay but I don't think I'd do it again, simply because the exterior seam allowances are a little bulkier than I'd like.

Jungle Jammies!

The other issue I came across this time is that, because I used the blue striped rib knit for the body of the shirt, the neckline was slightly bigger than I would have liked. Darn that rib knit! I should have stabilized the necklines before I sewed the binding on. It's not a glaring fit issue and it makes it easier for Mr. T to get the shirt on over his big head, but still.

All in all, a very successful week of sewing these. If only I could get in the sewing room more regularly! And if only I could remember to post about them in a more timely fashion! At least I was able to do them in a sort-of assembly line style. Using the brown for 2 pairs meant I didn't have to change thread for each set and that's always a time-saver.

Now he needs more pants. It never ends.