I had this idea to make our family pajamas for Christmas. So that we could have new pajamas for the morning photos and I thought it would be a great first clothing project.
I looked at a few tutorials over the last couple of years. But when it came to it I just worked out what would be the easiest way. In fact, if you’re upcycling like I did you can even avoid hemming!
I used a duvet cover which had an opening at the bottom without buttons or snaps so I laid my pattern (actually our existing pajamas) so that the opening was the bottom our the pieces.
This photo is from another pair I made for Izzy. Fold the fabric and place the straight edge along the fold. If you don’t have a duvet to upcycle just cut around the edge leaving half an inch around the edge, nothing on the top and about 1 and half inches on the bottom.
Use this as a pattern for the other leg and cut two.
If you’ve used the bottom of something else for your hem you can do a nice smug face now :)
Place the two pieces right sides together and sew down the sides.
Then fold in half and sew along the inside leg in an upside-down “v” shape.
If you’ve not done a cheaty upcycle then you’ll need to fold up twice and hem.
I ended up doing two lines of stitching to make it look a little more pro – like the bottoms of the ones I’d upcycled.
Pin the waistband to the pajamas next. Make your waistband by cutting a piece of elastic the same width as the persons waistband and sewing by overlapping the piece by about an inch and sewing in a square with a cross to secure it. Then pin the waistband on as above by dividing the the waistband into half and pinning to the corresponding halves on the pjs. Repeat until you have it into quarters or eighths.
As you sew you’ll need to work on pinned width at a time.
Hold the elastic behind your presser foot and stretch the elastic up to your next pin with your other hand so that the elastic is as wide as your fabric.
I don’t have any photos of this for obvious reasons! Take your time and use your longest zig zag stitch.
Fold your elastic in and then you’re done!
Perfect for all matching on Christmas morning!
I did these the same way I did these make up bags, but I boxed the bottom and used an upholstery fabric for the interior to make it more sturdy. I also used two colours for the exterior. I like the look of mixing two together, and means you have more options with smaller scraps.
All I did was sew the two smaller rectangles together and ironed the seam before piecing and sewing as usual.
