The moment he laid eyes on this fabric at LadyP’s, MrA wanted pyjamas out of it. He reeled off a generous 4m, wrapped himself up in it, gave me that look (that says ‘MAKE ME PYJAMAS PLEEEEAAAASSEE!!’) and promptly bagged it. Well, his birthday is upon us and it would be pretty rum of me to not make him some pyjamas…

…When we were honeymooning in Thailand, the only fabric I came back with was 4m of purple Thai silk to make him pyjamas. I pretended to forget about it and secretly made them for him on our 1st anniversary. I didn’t want to measure him specially as I thought it might jog his memory, I also knew my PJ top fit him well. Rather than trace out a bigger trouser size, I just guessed and added some width to the size I’d already cut… I kind of got away with it…

They’re a little bit on the snug side, but he loves them nonetheless. The silk was amazing to sew with. We got a couple of patterned silk scarves too and I used one for the piping, it looks lovely, but won’t last forever. I cut the piping a bit too narrow and it frays a bit. So, as happy as I am with these PJ’s, I’m aware that I still need to make MrA his ‘ultimate pyjamas’. Bring on the pink checked brushed cotton…

I’m using the same pattern but this time I traced out the next size up. It comes with a fold over facing on the jacket, so I had to adapt that to insert piping. I just traced the pieces separately adding seam allowance to the new edge. I split the pocket piece in a similar way so I could add piping to that too.

It was all done in bits and bobs, an hour here, an hour there… Whenever I had a bit of time to myself. After 4 sessions I had the pattern traced & altered, the pattern pieces cut and overlocked. Just waiting for the piping to arrive. I’ve ordered it from Amazon, ready made. I know what’ll happen… I’ll get tired of waiting, buy some fabric, make piping… just in time for the delivery to arrive. Then I’ll have 10m of blue piping to add to my stash. Hm.

It conveniently arrived on one of my days off. I’d been busy looking after a friends dog, but he’d gone home & MrA was at work. Perfect.

This was our houseguest…

…Mr Frederick P. Peanut III… But we all call him Freddie (or Mr Peanut at semi-formal occasions). His name suggests somewhat of a dynasty, but he is in fact a first generation Chihuahua/ Yorkshire Terrier (‘Chalkie’). MrA & I love him. We both adore animals and would have our own dogs in a heartbeat, but with long work hours, a teeny-tiny flat, you know… one day… one day.

So pyjamas filled the hole that Freddie left. I was kind-of against the clock; we had tickets to go and see Sheridan Smith in ‘Funny Girl’ at the London Savoy Theatre in the evening, but with everything washed, ironed, cut out & overlocked, I was ‘on-it’…

I won’t go into too much detail, the pattern was Burda 6741 which I’ve made twice before. Adding the piping meant I had to keep my wits about me, but it’s quite an easy sew. I had to think a bit around the collar, there’s a little section without piping, I couldn’t work out how to get it there in time! But I’m sure he’ll never notice it.

Pattern matching took up a big part of my headspace during these too. This is how I matched the pattern over a piped seam…

  1. Sew/ glue-baste the piping to the right side of one piece (here it’s the sleeve).
  2. Fold & press the seam allowance at the pattern matching point of the joining piece (cuff), line it up &  glue-baste it in place over the piping.
  3. Flip the cuff down & stitch with a piping foot.
  4. Ta-dah!

I seemed to go a little off-grain to get the horizontals matching across the back, they’ve washed well and kept their shape so I’m not too worried. In fact, I’m pretty pleased with my pattern matching. I matched vertical & horizontal across centre front, pocket, cuffs & back collar.  And just focussed on the horizontal match on all the other seams.

  1. Piped side leg seam (with in-seam cotton-lined pockets)
  2. Piped pocket.
  3. Jacket side seam & hem.
  4. Seat seam (right back on the wonk but matching horizontally!)
  5. And the button holes all lined up on centre front.

They came together in about 5 hours (without any swearing) and were stashed away in time for MrA’s return from work. We had a great night out. I was pleased we were at the theatre; it kept me quiet as I was itching to talk about his P.Js.

And, as luck would have it, the theme for the bonus day of Rachael (@houseofpinhero)’s #SewPhotoHop on instagram is PYJAMA PARTY! … The same day as MrA’s birthday… spooky!

Needless to say, he loves them. And they fit. In fact, rather than going out for his birthday, he’s thinking of keeping his pyjamas on and staying in!


Happy sewing.

Notes to self;

  1. Buy the buttons and piping at the same time (I had a hell of a time getting matching buttons once I’d already made them!)