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A SLPco Pajama Party

Hi everybody! My name is Sherri or Mami de Sofiona and I’m visiting here at Simple Life’s house to share a few makes of mine using their patterns. Lucky me, I can even visualize the scene since I had the extreme pleasure of having lunch with Eleri and Katie this summer along with my friend, Trish.

I can picture us all sitting in the living room. It was one of those visits, you know, the ones that start a little hesitant because you basically invited yourself over to a stranger’s house and brought a group of 11 with you. But then you get past that and start really visiting. You find yourself in the middle of a great visit and suddenly you’re discussing the option of sneaking out to go fabric shopping. We’ll leave the 11 kids with the guys (they’ll never know we’ve gone) and we’ll jump the back fence. Alas, we didn’t. Perhaps we’re all just too straight-laced. Or maybe it’s because Eleri was wearing a dress and it hindered the fence jumping. Whatever the case, next time we’re jumping the fence! Forget the fact that there’s a gate.

Now that you know what a coffee date with me could potentially become, let’s get on with this! There’s a lot of new pattern action here at Simple Life these days. But what about the ones you already have. And what if *GASP* you haven’t used some of them yet!!! I want to show you what I’ve made recently and maybe even inspire you to pull out some of those patterns you already have and use them to create something new. Like these pajamas that I created all from Simple Life patterns.

I’ve also included a tutorial on how to add a binding to a neckline for those of you that sometimes want to skip the lining. AND to top it off, I have a giveaway. There’s a lot going on today!

In a nutshell, my pajama collection includes something for every climate. A warm flannel gown for the winter, summer-y separates in knit and a housecoat or “cozy-cozy” as we call them around our house.

I’ll start with the flannel gown. I used the Jaimesyn with a little bit of Ayda for this one. This gown takes me back to my own childhood and the kinds of flannel gowns my mom made for my sisters and I. To me, it’s the epitome of girlie. I could have left the ruffles off, but I chose to use one with a touch of lace that I also used on the hem of the skirt.

While the Jaimesyn was my primary inspiration, I needed something that could be pulled over the head and no one would need me to button them up. That’s where Ayda comes in. Ayda is a pattern for wovens and meant to be pulled on without closures. Since I was using flannel I needed to mimic the width and use the back as a guide. I traced out the V back bodice version of the Jaimesyn but on the middle slanted line I drew a line down from the shoulder and ended on a point that I further extended (horizontally) by another 3/4” from where it would normally reach the point. This gave me the extra width I wanted. I apologize, I had a picture and I’ve lost it. I’m hoping it will make sense when looking at that back piece should you try the same idea.

Before sewing the skirt portion on, I basted the back pieces together and had my daughter try it on to make sure she could easily get it off and on. I could adjust the amount of overlap as needed before having the skirt attached.

The sleeves are slightly adjusted. There is added width towards the bottom and I’ve lengthened them so that I could create the ruffled wrist just like the gowns of yesteryear. The elastic is sewn in making sure it’s not too fitted. I can imagine that would be uncomfortable on a nightgown.

The pattern I used for the housecoat is the Braxton Blazer. I had never made a Braxton before so to take it and create something quite different was a bit of a challenge. You can clearly see that the changes on this one were extensive. I will be writing about a few of the details of this on a separate post (details below), but for now I’ll just say that I appreciated this project because it taught me about how far I can take my imagination using patterns I already own. I had to rip out a LOT of seams on this one and had one day when it had to be set aside till I cooled down. A lot of lessons were learned, but I learned them. Here’s one: I do not recommend ripping seams on minky fabric. It is super easy to get holes in your garment!!

All that frustration aside and behind me I am very happy with the final result. Even though I can still see the flaws that I have to just live with. The fabric choice was perfect because I didn’t have to line it. It is soft inside and out. The length is great for my daughter and that was one area that I wanted to have control over. Our store bought housecoats are always too short.

This now leaves us with the 2 piece knit ensemble. Patterns used were the Tammy Tulip and Ruffle Shorts and the ever popular Isla.

Tammy’s shorts are written as a woven pattern. These could easily be made “as per pattern” in knit and you’d be good to go, but I wanted to change the waistband and skip the lining. A tutorial on that will be linked below and I’ll talk more about those shorts over there. They’re cute though, right??

The top is where I’m going to camp for a bit. As I mentioned, this is the Isla. I’m a bit of a rebel when it come to the pronunciation of this pattern (says the girl who took a term as teacher’s pet in elementary school). It’s supposed to be “Eye-lah” and I know that, but I keep calling it “Ees-lah” and I probably always will. It is my most used Simple Life pattern so far. I’ve had fun hacking it into various forms including this tulip back version.

This time the Isla is widened and lengthened into a t-shirt, but it has one difference that I know some of you will be interested in. The neck binding. I’ve read many times on the FB fan page that people are wanting to know what to do with the neckline if they don’t want the double layer of the lining. Let’s see if I can help those people out.

Assuming you have already cut out your pieces and attached the front and back bodice, we will continue from there to attach the binding. You will be using a strip of your fabric cut at 1½” wide.

First, you will do a little math. Start by measuring out the raw edge of the neckline. I just set my measuring tape on it’s side about 1/4” from the edge.

Once you have your measurement, you will want to find out what 85% of that is. For example, if your neck opening is 18” you will multiply 18 x 0.85 which comes to 15.3. Add your seam allowances to that number. Remember we have two ends with 3/8” SA to each. All this takes me pretty close to 16” so, unless you want to be super exact, that will be sufficient! Cut your piece. Example: 1½” L x 16″ W. This does NOT need to be cut along the bias as binding for wovens do. Just cut with the stretch going the length of the piece.

Sew your short ends together. Iron in half, long edges together, creating a loop.

Next you will section both your neck binding and your neck opening into four. Notice the pins are slightly off the shoulder seams as the front neckline is longer.

Pin the neckband to the right side of the bodice pieces, matching the pins. Centre the seam on your neckband to centre back of the shirt.

Once your four marked points are pinned together you will then stretch each section out till the neckband is the same length as the shirt portion and pin each quartered section.

Serge or sew together while stretching the neckband out only till it matches the shirt opening and no further. Once that is done, flip the neckband up and press lightly. To finish it off I love my coverstitch or even a double needle on a regular machine. No matter which way you decide to topstitch, just be sure it is a stretch stitch.

Finish it off with some heat transfer art!! I just love that final touch and I’m always amazed at how easy it is! Quick tip: Remember to flip your lettering in whichever cutting program you use before cutting. This will be a mirrored image! I almost forgot.

That’s all for this post. I hope that you’ve been inspired to look into your stash of those Simple Life patterns and see how you can create something just a bit different. Or maybe a LOT different. And let me know! You can find me on IG or follow me on my own blog Mami de Sofiona.

I have a few more details of the other outfits for those interested including a tutorial for a “no-twist” waistband that I used for the Tammy shorts. No one likes it when those elastics twist around and I can promise you they will never twist with this method.

Now it’s time to follow me over to my house to enter your name for this giveaway package. Little Feather Fabrics has generously given $25 to go towards a purchase in her shop. She has all of my favourite fabric lines and you might be thinking it’s time to make some knit jammies too! Add to that your choice of a Simple Life pattern!! Wonderful fabric + awesome patterns + your imagination = Beautiful surprises for us on the FB fan page!!

Thanks for reading!! Hope to see you over there!

-Sherri

Fabric and Braxton Blazer pattern provided by The Simple Life Company for this post. All other patterns were a part of my own growing collection.

Affiliate links are used in this post.

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