Hello sewing friends! Sometimes you lose your sew-jo. That hasn’t happened to me for a while, but I seem to be suffering from write-jo lately. I have lots to post but the Muse of Interesting Blog Writing hasn’t blessed me with her presence for quite a while. So at the risk of boring you silly, and in the name of Faking It Til You Make It, I’ll just put this out there anyway.

I sewed this pyjama set last year around this time, spurred on by a pyjama contest held at the Pattern Review Weekend — a gathering of sewing enthusiasts who use the Pattern Review online community. It was really interesting to have about 70 or so women hanging out together in the early evening in a sort-of public space (it was held in a community-centre-type place) all wearing pyjamas they had made! We oohed and aaahed and giggled with each other over all the handmade, sleepy goodness. The only thing missing was a pillow fight.

I used one of the big commercial pattern companies’ patterns to make the pants. Sorry, I can’t remember which one now, but these type of loose-fitting, elastic-waist pyjama bottom patterns can be found anywhere, including a gazillion free ones. My fabric is a rayon jersey I bought online from L’Oiseaux Fabrics quite a while back. It’s soft and drapey, but it has pilled like crazy during the year that I’ve been wearing them. Also, rayon tends to stretch out a lot, and I didn’t do that thing you’re supposed to do — which is to hang them for at least 24 hours before hemming — so I did actually have to shorten the pants after the fact.  (Also on the topic of rayon: do you notice that rayon takes longer to air-dry than other fabrics? It always seems heavier when it’s wet, and takes on a bit of a crunchy feel, and takes longer to dry. Note that I’m full of inspiring facts with which you can impress people at cocktail parties.)

The top is a pattern from Melly Sews. It only comes in one size (small, according to the pattern, but it’s a roomy small, especially in a knit). Which is why, I guess, it only costs $2 to download the pattern.

I had a big issue with the stretch fusible interfacing used on the front facings. You can see in the pics above that the fabric on either side of the front facings is stretching longer than the facings do. How on earth do you attach fusible interfacing to a stretch fabric while it’s lying flat, while ensuring you’re not shortening or lengthening the main fabric? Easy to do on a non-stretch woven, but on a knit it appears to be a whole different ball game. Once it’s fused, the fabric takes on the stretch factor of the interfacing, which in my case was far less stretchy than my main fabric, resulting in this visible problem at the front. If you have some experience in using fusible interfacing on very stretchy fabric, please advise!

I was going to write, “but it’s only pyjamas, so no one’s going to care but me”….except for the fact that I paraded around in them on a STAGE in front of a HUNDRED other SEWISTS to be JUDGED in a CONTEST. So no chance of hiding that problem! Lol.

Needless to say, I didn’t clean up in the pyjama competition. (It took place before I shortened the pants, and I remember getting out of bed in the hotel room at PR Weekend and almost falling flat on my face from tripping over my own pant hems. That might’ve been a clue that the fit wasn’t exactly spot-on.)

Do you sew pyjamas? I didn’t think I’d bother to sew my own, but the contest, as well as the fact that I realized after buying this fabric that it really wasn’t going to be my style as an actual garment to wear out of the house, pushed me to try. Style Arc recently released a set of loungewear patterns that I might try out.

Are you attending Pattern Review Weekend 2019 in May? It’s taking place in Portland, Oregon, USA this time. I’ll see you there if you’re going. I’ve been to Portland once before and really enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to spending some time there again.

Thanks for stopping by!

— Lori