PJs for Sophie

My oldest daughter has spent much of this year growing; mostly upwards. She's nearly as tall as me (though that's not too hard). I'm noticing her long lanky legs more and more as her shorts seem to get shorter and shorter. She was dancing around the house one day in PJs when I realised something had to be done. New PJs were needed. 

I traced the general shape of the ones she most frequently wore, added length to both the top and bottom, and then got to work. Sophie picked out two fabrics from my stash that I only had small amounts of and was happy to donate to the cause. The first, a green with little white floral designs, was just enough to get a pair of shorts from. I even pieced the waistband to get it out. 

Not great lighting - cutting these out at night time.

It was a good trial run, and though Sophie thinks they are perfect, I think they have a little too much flair, so I took out some at the sides for the next round. 

Colour is closer to the top pic in real life, but oh so cute!

Second fabric choice was this lovely mustard-yellow floral which I had just enough to get the shorts and a top out of for her. And I mean just enough. Originally I asked her if I could leave the sleeves off to give myself a bit more wiggle room, but Sophie said that sleeves were very important. 

Another dodgy night time photo. The top right is where I cut the other sleeve,  and the small half circle in between the main pieces on the left along with the little bit at the bottom was where I got the waist band. Talk about efficiency! 

So I pieced bits together to make two sleeves and again used all the scrap bits I could to get a waist band out. It was really satisfying to turn all the off cut bits that would usually go straight to my "small enough for quilts" box, into actually usable parts of the garment. The second pair of shorts are much less flouncy but still fit great. 

For the top, I used the pattern from my own PJs, just did some shortening (though not much, that was more because I didn't have heaps of fabric!), and then cut it without seam allowance added on. It worked out ok, even without the collar (absolutely no spare fabric for that lying around!), but I noticed it falls strangely, so I think the shoulder slope must be off somehow. I just bound the neckline with a tiny scrap of the gold mustard fabric I had left from making my sister's classy bunting in August. Colour matched perfectly. 

Anyway, I did intend to add buttons to the front, but when Sophie tried it on, she could get it on and off without, so I just ended up sewing the front closed instead. Lazy? Maybe. But I did just make two sets of PJs in less than a week, so I can't be that lazy. 

Pyjamas

I had been lamenting pyjamas in my wardrobe for a good year or so, before finally coming to the conclusion that if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself.  Thanks for teaching me that, Sebastian the crab. So to the stash I went to find some suitable fabric to make a (hopefully wearable) draft. 

A long time ago, I received some free fabric from a friend which I used to make cute things for kids. See here. It was once a doona cover and came with the matching pillow case. I had a small amount of this material left, so I figured I could use it as a draft of a pyjama top. I'm not above wearing PJs with trucks and diggers on them. 

I made these around the same time that I was working on the girls ladybug shorts. Found a free pattern for some PJs from So Sew Easy, and after a couple of pattern hacks (short sleeves!), I had a draft. 

The fit was ok, just a little boxy, and my short sleeves turned out a little long - nearly elbow length. Still, it was a wearable draft, so I was happy. 

So back to my fabric stash I went, and pulled out some of this stuff which I had gotten for a bargain at a de-stash market earlier in the year. I also had a quick look through my trims and found I had exactly the right amount of piping in this musky pink colour that matched perfectly. There is nothing like adding piping to a project to make it suddenly very swish. 

There is something a little off with the collar of this version - maybe the folded back bit goes down too low before it folds? I don't know, but I can wear them and they are comfy. The fabric is super light which is perfect for a Brisbane summer. 

My mum had buttons in the stash, and I just made a very basic pair of shorts (alas, not enough piping to warrant cuffs on the shorts) to match. These really do feel like fancy PJs and after the absolute rubbish I had been wearing, they are amazing.