Blue Stripe Pyjamas

I made pyjamas! I never thought I would ever make pyjamas, but here we are. I needed a new pair for winter, and not finding any in the stores that I liked (cartoon characters anyone!?), I decided to bite the bullet and sew my own.

My decision was substantiated when I discovered this lovely cornflower blue painted stripe at Drapers Fabrics in Newmarket. (“ARAI” printed viscose/cornflower, $22/m, they also had a darker marine blue). It is 100% viscose/rayon so I made sure to pre-wash it a couple of times to eliminate any shrinkage – nothing worse than short sleeves on your pj’s!

I copied the idea of piping with grosgrain ribbon from an old pair of Peter Alexander pyjamas, in fact I modelled my pattern on them, adding a few extra touches that I preferred – like luxurious wide cuffs and a better collar draft. The grosgrain ribbon and buttons were purchased from Geoff’s Emporium down Dominion Road, and I pre-shrunk the grosgrain ribbon by immersing in boiling water for 10 minutes.

The fabric is very drapy and lightweight (possibly too light for mid-winter) and this was not a problem until I came to the patch pockets. Unfortunately they are sagging a bit, but I wasn’t going to fuse and line the pocket bags on pyjamas! Still, they look ok with my hands stuffed in them!

Rather than folding the top of the pants to make an elastic casing, I made a separate waistband to reduce excess fabric around the waist. There is still elastic in there, and the ribbon tie runs right through the waistband and appears out of a couple of buttonholes in the front. I stitched the ribbon tie and elastic together at the centre back, to prevent the tie disappearing down a buttonhole – because that is always really annoying!

Very happy with these! I have to say though, that pyjamas do take a while to make. I never really thought about it, but it is equivalent to making two garments – so they were not the quick make I expected them to be. In saying that – I have cut out another pair!

And pj’s seem to be still on my mind – at The Fabric Store the other day I kept seeing fabrics that would have looked super fabulous made up as jimjams – way better than what I found pyjama shopping. We are so lucky as sewers that we can design to our own tastes!