The Wolves have howled! Simp 2771

 

Zackie's PJs got finished this morning. Took one hour to whip out the pants. Here's the lowdown:

Pattern:  Simplicity 2771 , "Unisex Pajama". There's a lot I love about this pattern and have used it many times. First it carries every size from little tyke to Big Daddy and is not gender specific. I would love a pair of these for myself. It is pretty easy and you can take it to the next level creatively by doing the piping but not necessary. The only caveat here is dealing with the neckline band. It is sort of counter intuitive. You put on the band AND THEN you face the band after. It looks like the band is the actual  facing but that is not the case and the first couple of times I made this it took me a bit to get my head wrapped around that.

Another thing I like about this pattern is the neck treatment. I've made classic notched collar pajamas. Forget that! With this neckline you don't have pjs coming out  of the washer/dryer with a skewed crumpled collar. I mean really, who is going to iron pjs? Not even moi, who irons everything. With this neckline it always looks neat, especially for those Christmas morning snapshots.

A bit of advice: if you would like to add this to your stash for sewing lots of different sized jammies, wait till a Joann sale and get all the sizes at 99 cents a pattern.All the sizes are in one envelope but by having several envelopes you can cut out each size needed. It will save all the tracing I have done.

Fabric: This is a 100% cotton flannel from EQuilter,com from the North Woods Collection. There are some exquisite flannels to be seen there. It is very heavy, washed and dried with nearly no shrinkage and came out holding its appearance. I've used this line of flannel before and it is a delight to sew with. Be aware that sewing pajamas takes a lot of fabric and this is not cheap. You have long sleeves, pants and bodice. I believe I used 4 yards at 11.95 so you can do the math. BUT, these are being passed through the family, wear like iron, wash beautifully and most of all, the kids love them and ask for them. I have bought cheapo flannel and you never know quite what you are going to get. I highly recommend if you can go the expense. When your grandchildren ask you to make these and it's unsolicited, you know it's worth every penny. 

The piping was also 100% cotton flannel. The bands are interfaced with Armo Weft. 

PIC

Construction: This is pretty straight forward and just take it slow figuring out how to put the band on. It is easy to attach the wrong side which I did the first time I made this. Other than that it is simple.  This would be a great pattern to learn/attempt piping as there are no sharp corners to turn. On my version the seams are all stitched then serged with some being topstitched. There is topstitching next to all the piping which brings out the 64,000.00 question. In my last post how did I get the moon on the pocket to not show the stitches? I did nothing. It is topstitched with the same navy thread but the flash bounced back off the moon and made it disappear. Pretty cool, huh? Now if time were nothing in my life I might have switched threads to a white for the moon but sorry, not this time!  Because of yardage limitations I also did not make an effort to match the band. That could be done but it would require additional yardage and I felt maxed out on the expense of this project already. But that pocket matches and I feel good knowing that.

In conclusion: This is a great pattern. The fabric was wonderful and it's going to a very appreciative young man. I will no doubt make this again and again. I am thinking a pair for me but a winter coat is coming first. Got my Kasha lining today!!!...Bunny

Aaackk..It's Spiders, Camo Spiders!!!

 

This is my TNT boy's pajama pattern, Simplicity 2771. I say boy's because I just have never used it yet for girl's jammies. I like that it doesn't have a collar, the facing its turned to the outside and it uses piping for accents on the outside facing, sleeves, and pocket. 

I sew in units and the first thing I usually attack are the details. I made and installed the pocket and piped facing. Today I will show you the pocket as it handles the piping issue a little differently than some other patterns I have seen.  

The pocket consists of a lower pocket, and a band of fabric folded in half at the top of the pocket with piping in between. First you make the piping and attach it to the top of the pocket on the right side (top right pic, sorry for the blurs).As with any piping installation you do not want cording in your seam allowances. With your nail or some tweezers pull out the cord until you feel the SA on the opposite side empty. You should have 5/8ths of an inch of cord in your fingers. Now put a pin in the piping to secure the cord. Pull again some more until you have another 5/8 ths of an inch pulled out. You should have 1 1/4 inch of cord showing. Now snip it off at the edge. Let the cording retreat back into the piping and you should have each seam allowance free of any cord. This is really important in order to get a sharp fold on the pocket edge. 

Next you take the band and the pocket right sides together and stitch a hair inside the piping stitching line (top left drawing). Grade seams and press toward the band. You can see in the drawing that the band seam allowance has been pressed under and trimmed on the free side. Fold the band over, right sides together so that the pressed edge meets the piping, not crosses it (middle pic on right). Stitch across the band and continue stay stitching along the seam line around the pocket and back across the band on the other side. Doing the pocket this way really helps keep the bulk down and gives you a sharp edge in the piped area. Trim and turn the band to the right side and fold under the SAs on the stay stitching line and press under. The pocket is now ready to stitch to the bodice. 

 

Nearly all patterns give you little more than two dots to match the top corners of your pockets to. I find that isn't always conducive to accuracy. I run a 1/4 inch width of masking tape from dot to dot and then at right angles down the sides. Now I can place the pocket perfectly.

Last but not least comes the topstitching. Don't attempt to topstitch over your piping. Topstitch the lower pocket up to the piping and bring threads to the back and tie off. Start fresh and topstitch separately each side of the band once again bringing threads to the back and tieing off.  I like to finish my topstitching at the corners with a tiny zigzag.

I think doing the pocket band the way shown here makes for a much neater finished piped pocket than just folding under the edges. I also handled the facing a bit differently, again due to the piping, and will show you that tomorrow. Isn't this cute fabric? If I were a three year old little boy who is really into bugs I know I sure would like it. Can't wait to see Zackie's face when he sees his bug jammies....Bunny