Frankenpattern and Simplicity 2290 PJs

When I showed Logan the Mater interlock that I made his and Duncan's tee shirts out of, he was really excited about it. He's been a little lukewarm about Cars lately, so I was glad he was so pleased. He told me that he wanted a short sleeve shirt (check!) and jammies (uh oh.). I only had a yard of the interlock, and he actually prefers flannel PJs, so I put "Mater flannel" in the back of my mind and went on my merry way. Last week, I hit Joann for the yellow ribbing for Duncan's tee, and Logan found his flannel.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for that kid. He asks me for so little. Anyway, the patterns are the same ones I used to make his Thomas the Train PJs, which are his favorite.

I used some bright yellow buttons from the stash and stitched the buttonholes in yellow thread, just for fun. All of the other topstitching was done in dark blue.

When I showed them to him, he declared them "cool". Erg, when did my baby start saying, "cool"?? At least he still loves Mater jammies!

Simplicity 2738 + Butterick 4222 = comfy PJs

My MIL came to visit a few weeks ago, and brought the kids some I spy bags she had made. Logan's was the coolest Thomas the Train flannel, and I asked here where she got it. She couldn't remember, but before she headed back to Florida, found some at Hobby Lobby for us. Logan was thrilled! My kids love fabric presents. They're well trained. He was even more excited when I unveiled the finished product!

I used the neckline from Simplicity 2738 with the width, length, sleeve and armscye of Butterick 4222. The bottoms are Simplicity 2290. I'm much happier with the fit and he says they are comfortable, so I think we have a winner, at least until he grows again.

He really likes the buttons.

Simplicity 2738

Logan is nearing the upper size limit for his usual PJ pattern, so I thought I'd try out something new for him. The only thing I don't love about the Butterick pattern I always use is that the facings tend to fold up over the buttonholes. It's a minor annoyance, but after making Myra's PJ's with the stitched down facing, I thought it might be a nice thing to try for Logan, too.

And so we have Simplicity 2738, with a faced V neckline. The pants are still Simplicity 2290. They are perfect, so why mess with a good thing. There are a couple of things I like about this pattern. Since I was looking for this neckline style, I am happy with that. The facings are nice and deep, so even without topstitching them down, they'd have probably stayed in place. The fit overall is quite slim. This is a size 5, which is the same size I used for his last pair of PJs, but these are much smaller over all. I suspect this is due to the "unisex" nature of the pattern. They always seem to be drafted more for girls.

You can see a little better here the details off the boy. The top is also quite short. Combined with the snug fit elsewhere, he won't be wearing these for long. I also noticed that the sleeve cap is quite high. Like girlie high, and difficult to ease into the armscye. The sleeve length is good though, so I'm not sure going up a size would solve my difficulties.

On the plus side, I really do like this neckline. The Simplicity directions call for topstitching 1/4 inch from the edge of the neckline and omit understitching, I prefer the look of a facing when it is understitched, even if I am topstitching as well, so I did that. I placed my topstitching so that the line would be continuous with the pocket edgestitching. This was 1 1/4 inch from the neckline edge. I really like the way it looks and the facing is very secure.

Aren't the buttonholes pretty? My Singer has a 5/8 keyhole buttonhole template, so I decided to get fancy. That machine makes the nicest buttonholes. Since it was threaded for the buttonholes, I did most of the  topstitching on the singer as well. Now that she lives in the same room as the rest of my machines, I'm really going to get to sew with her more.

Overall, I think this is a reasonably decent pattern. For Logan, I prefer the fit of the Butterick. He has his daddy's broad shoulders. I also think that for any child it should be lengthened. Logan is pretty average height and it lands right at his waist. I really do like the neckline though, so I may morph this neckline onto our Butterick TNT.

Butterick 4222 & Simplicity 2290

This will be a quickie, since you've seen both of these patterns before.

Here's my GQ boy, modelling his new PJs. The top is his TNT, Butterick 4222, which is sadly now OOP. I've made them many times and very much like the pattern. The pants are Simplicity 2290. I've made them before here.

The fabric is flannel from JoAnn, which I bought so many years ago that I didn't quite have enough yardage. I shortened the pants a little (for fit as well), and instead of using the cut on facings, I cut separate front facings from white cotton. Of course, you can see the flash of white at the top of the collar, but we're just calling that a design detail.

Logan wanted to show you his favorite part - the buttons! Aren't those little trains cute? The one on top is blue - He's Thomas. The middle, red one is James and the bottom, grey one that Logan is pointing to is Spencer. You can also see inside the collar in this picture. I decided to break from tradition and try the bias bound collar on this top. Naturally, despite having just written about this method, I managed to flub it up. I ended up with the bias tape on the outside, rather than tucked into the facings. It works fine, it just isn't as pretty. Anyway, the method was definitely less fussy and I think I'll be using it for PJs from here on out. The handstitched method is pretty and I'll reserve it for blouses and such where I don't want any external stitching.

According to Logan, the best part of these PJs is that they have train tracks! See, right here!

Simplicity 2290 and Ottobre 03/2004-19 (and Otto 06/2009-3)

My sewing group at church just started working on PJ pants.  We're using Simplicity 2290, which is a part of their Learn To Sew line.  Thanks to Beth for recommending this pattern to me.  It is really great for learning the basics!  The instructions are very complete and clear, and the diagrams are bigger and easier to understand.  For this one pattern piece pants pattern there are 6 pages of instructions!  The pattern comes with all sizes from child size 4-5 up to adult XL in one envelope, which is nice.  I had this cute duckie flannel that was calling to be PJ pants for Logan.

Naturally, I couldn't stop at just pants.  Those duckies are too cute!  So I traced off Ottobre 03/2004-19, which is a basic sweatshirt pattern with bands at neckline and wrists and a stitched hem.

Ottobre appliqued their version with a fish motif, but I went with an octogon.  Logan has a bit of an obsession with polygons right now.  I used self fabric for the neck and wrist bands, partly because matching this particular shade of red was impossible, but also because the fleece is so soft and snuggly.

The fabric is more of the Black Friday fleece from Hancock.  Logan chose this dark red and told me he wanted me to make a shirt.  My turnaround time with this fleece purchase has been really fast!!  I haven't even had a chance to put it in the closet yet and already have made 3 garments from it!

Because of course, the Wee Professor needed a mini version to match his big brother!  For the wee one I reused Ottobre 06/2009-3.  Instead of binding the neckline, I just added an allowance and did a turned and stitched hem.  The fleece is already so bulky, I didn't want to add more layers of ribbing.  I'll be working on the mini PJ pants at sewing group on Tuesday!