Sunday 1 December 2013

Pajama Bottoms

You may recognise this fabric from a previous make of mine (the plaid pinafore dress). As pajama day was approaching I set my heart on using the left overs for some really really comfy flannel pajama bottoms.
However, after I traced the smallest size of my pajama bottom pattern and laid it on the fabric, I didn't have quite enough.

As I said, I had to have pj bottoms out of this fabric so it was back to the drawing board for me.
My thoughts drifted to Lekala.co which is a pattern company that you give your measurements to and they send you a pdf 24 hours later with a pattern that fits your measurements exactly thus eliminating the need for a muslin. Did i mention that the pattern for these pj bottoms only cost $2.50?!
Because my measurements were smaller than drafted for in the too big pattern that I used this new pattern fit just fine widthways accross the fabric. However, lengthways was an issue.
To solve this problem I rummaged around to find the smaller scraps and painstakingly matched them to the top of the fabric already lying on the floor. When those scraps had given me enough length I slip stitched them to the original fabric and cut the pattern pieces out then sewed them as instructed in the patterns instructions. The slipstitching wasn't strong enough and ripped when I attempted to try them on so I zigzaged them on instead with my machine. I then attached the elastic to the waistband and gave them a tiny hem and my pj trousers were done.
My pattern matching was considerably better on the front than on the back so I'll just give you a pic of the front so you don't have a heart attack looking at the back. It was hidden by my tee-shirt on the day so it was fine anyway!
Is it obvious that the top of them consists of about 7 different scraps pieced together?
Also, excuse the thermals. England is cold. Plus, if one of the seams split, it's fine because my bum is already covered :P

The whole process was done the night before and the morning of. Apologies to my family, who were rudely awoken by the sound of my sewing machine at 6.30am. It won't happen again. Well, not for a while anyway.

Thanks so much for reading!
Lauren x