Better late than never with this post!! I have a very quiet time on IG and here in the lead up to Christmas time because I was busy making presents! Then we had the announcement that Chirstmas wasn’t happening the way we’d all planned and I had to post everything. I waited for the mad rush to be over before I sent mine, I really didn’t want my handmade items getting lost or going missing in the huge pile the post office had to deal with all of a sudden. Which all means getting photos of said items was heavily delayed. But I have some now!
I’d decided to make luxurious pjs for the girls for Christmas – proper, grown-up pjs! I looked at all sorts of fabrics; double gauze, flowing viscose, tencel and cotton lawn. I knew Daughter No1 would want hers in a plain fabric, and I tried very hard to find a terracotta or something that looks like it’s been dyed with avocado. In the end I decided I really wanted tencel, it would give the luxurious feel I was after, would be lovely to sleep in, and not get hot! But budget constraints hit hard, tencel is expensive! In the end I found some tencel twill in suitable plain colours from The Fabric Room, minimum order was 3m per fabric, which is fine for a pair of pjs!
I ordered two samples and waited. They were quick to come and I was perfectly happy with both. The colour, handle and drape were perfect, so I jumped in and ordered 3m of each of two colours. They were realtively quick to arrive, given the pressures the postal service was under at the end of November and beginning of December.
The pattern for Daughter No 1 was going to be the Carolyn PJ pants. I chose a couple of sizes bigger in the width, to give the baggy look she was after, and an oversized shirt pattern from Burda. She wanted the “I’m wearing my bigger boyfriend’s shirt” look. The pj trousers were to be simple, no piping. I should have found a way to get her leg length correct though, I need to go back and shorten the trousers! The tencel sewed so beautifully, creases steam out quickly and, when pressed, it stays in place. I used French seams throughout to give the pants a high quality, and double turned the trouser hem. There are no raw edges here!
The top was chosen a, because it was nice and big but proportionally still worked for a small size, and b, because it was long enough to be able to be worn without pants if wanted. It has a shirt hem that is longer in the back than the front. The pattern is shirt 120B from Burda October 2016, link to the German site, as the other one is as useful as a chocolate teapot. The shirt has a front button band, small collar and stand and a back yoke that comes forward to the front with angled seams. The sleeve is nice and wide and inserted on the flat, pleated into a buttoned cuff. I’ve liked this pattern for ages, so when Daughter No1 hinted that she wanted an oversized shirt for pjs, this was the first one I thought of!
Again, it’s French seamed throughout and has double turned hems, lightweight fusible interfacing on cuffs, buttonband and collar pieces. The buttons are from my stash of mother-of-pearl buttons. I only use these for special projects, and when that project has reached the end of its life, the expectation is that the buttons are returned to live again on another project! I really love the sky-blue colour of this tencel twill, and the sandwashed effect it has.
The pyjamas were met with delight, once they were posted! We had hit a snag with the sudden announcement of level 4 restrictions in London before Christmas, and again when Christmas travel was severely restricted, so we were unable to deliver in person. However, thank goodness for WhatsApp and video calling! The pjs have gone down a treat and I know she’s happy with her proper, grown-up pjs!
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 