How To Sew Your Own Pyjamas

So this is my first post where I actually show you some of my own sewing. If the above picture and title haven't given it away, I've made myself a set of cotton pyjamas. This set includes a vest top/tank top and a pair of shorts. I decided to make some pyjamas because I only have one pair of pyjama shorts that I sleep in and love sleeping with my legs free... just me...no?

I bought my cream fabric from Abakhan and the blue/sheep fabric from my local fabric shop Aberdashery . Both fabrics are cotton.




To make the Pyjamas, you will need:

1. Roughly 1 metre of fabric for shorts
2. Roughly 1 metre of complementary fabric for the vest.
3. Elastic (Enough to circle waist/hips- depending on where you like the shorts to sit)
4. Matching thread.
5. Large Paper/Newspaper/Carbon Paper
6. Pair of Shorts (In the style you want to make)
7. Vest top (In the style you want to make)
8. Shirring Elastic (Optional)
9. Label (Optional)

How to make the vest.

To start lie a large piece of paper on your work surface (I use the floor). I used the paper inside of some wrapping paper, use whatever you have lying around. The first step is to fold your vest top in half, so that he front is facing outwards. Trace around your vest.



Then add your seam allowance to the paper, use whatever seam allowance you feel comfortable with. I did it by eye, but it was roughly 1/2". 




Once you've added your seam allowance to the paper; it's time to cut! This cut paper is the pattern for your vest top. Repeat for the front and back of your vest, or if your new vest top will be the same on the front and back then this one piece will be all you need.

Next, fold your fabric and press. Place your pattern onto your fabric on the fold. Pin the pattern in place and double check that there is no puckering in the fabric before cutting. 




Now cut the fabric around your pattern, you will be cutting through two layers of fabric here. Once cut, unpin your pattern and repeat for the back piece of your vest top. 




When you have your two pieces (Front and Back), place them right sides together. Pin up the sides of the top and the top of the shoulders, now you should be ready to sew! Sew the top of the shoulders and the sides of the vest. I used a regular straight stitch which is fine for my material, if you are using fabric with some stretch then a zig zag stitch might be more appropriate. I then used pinking shears to trim inside excess fabric at my seams to prevent fraying, if preferred use a zig zag stitch on the outside of your straight stitch to minimise fraying. 




Now it's time to hem your arm holes and your bottom hem. Just fold your fabric under, press and sew a straight line. If you're feeling fancy you could use a decorative stitch here, or maybe a contrasting thread colour to add some detail.

Once hemmed, try on your vest. I decided to add a dart on either side of my bust for a better fit. Adjust your vest top in anyway necessary to improve the fit. At this point I decided to lower the front neckline. Add bias binding to your neckline or turn under some fabric and sew in place.

Now here comes the really fun part... decorating. I first decided to add a frill to the neckline of my vest. I cut long strips of fabric (About a 2 inch wide). Fold in half to make a tube of width 1" and sew right sides together. Turn it the right was around and sew the two ends. I then used shirring elastic to gather my long strips of fabric. I did this by hand winding shirring elastic around a bobbin. I placed the bobbin into the machine and used normal thread for the top thread. I then sewed two parallel lines along each strip. Another way to gather the fabric is to use a long straight stitch, using normal thread, pull on the bottom thread to create gathers then arrange the gathers by hand. (Shirring tutorial here)

Once my strips of shirred fabric were complete I arranged them along my neckline how I liked them and pinned them into place. I sewed these into place using a basic straight stitch. 

Another detail I decided to add was a pocket to the front of my vest top. I cut a rectangle of fabric (roughly 15cmx10cm). Folded the raw edges over, pressed and sewed. I placed the pocket onto my shirt, and pinned into place. I tried my vest top on, and checked I was happy with the placement of the pocket. Once happy, I just sewed the two sides and bottom into place.




And there we are; a cute homemade pyjama top.


Making the shorts

Making the shorts uses almost the same method. I followed this great tutorial by Fashion Toppings. She does some great videos and is definitely worth subscribing to!

Click here for the tutorial!

I decided that I wanted my shorts shorter than the shorts in the video so I simply adjusted the length. The tutorial is easy to follow and the shorts are easy to personalise. 



Goodbye for now!