Twas the day before Christmas and all through the boat, all the creatures were stirring, especially Melissa at her sewing machine and Bosco with his catnip mouse!
We were invited to breakfast on Christmas morning at a neighbour’s and she kept saying how we should all just come in our pyjamas for some bucks fizz, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, so I thought it’d be fun to whip up some brand new pyjamas to wear! Christmas has always meant new pyjamas to my mom in particular – growing up, she and her brother and sister would always wake to find a new pair at the top of the stairs which they’d then be expected to change into so they were wearing new PJs in the christmas photos! I didn’t take it that far (I changed into the blue silk cocktail dress in time for dinner!), but it was awfully nice to wake up and put on new, comfortable clothes!
I used two patterns for the pyjamas, neither of which were actually meant for nightwear… The long sleeved top is 08/06 #104 (which is now reprinted as Burda envelope pattern 7892) and the bottoms are actually leggings from KnipMode 03/2007 #11.
Both are made using the incredibly soft pink retro guitars waffle knit from Crybaby’s Boutique. It’s killing me that I only bought 2 yards (and these used every last scrap, believe me!!), as it’s now sold out and I really wish I’d bought 5 or 6….
I cut out and sewed together the whole set in one afternoon, mostly using my serger on a 4-thread overlock stitch. Both were really easy to construct – the leggings were just two pattern pieces and an elastic waistband, and the top was essentially a long sleeved tee with some front seamed sections. The only major change I made was to add 4” cuffs to the bottoms of the leggings because they were really short when I tried them on! I can’t stand capris, so I used a few scant scraps from the remaining fabric to elongate the legs, which actually looks intentional in this style…
The other change was to eliminate the seam allowance from the top’s neckline and use some mauve twill fold over elastc (FOE) from MacCulloch & Wallis along the neckline.
It was my first time using FOE and it wasn’t too difficult providing I took my time and went slowly to make sure my stitches were catching on both sides. If I had mauve thread, I’m sure it could look even better, but for pyjamas I’m not too fussed on the details!