Are y’all ready for a pajama party? For those that have been a part of my journey for a bit, you know that my general uniform at home is some variation of pajamas. So when I was asked to work with Simplicity/McCalls for their Creative Christmas Campaign to create some easy-to-sew pajamas, I was all over it like peanut butter on toast.
For those that don’t know who CSS Industries is, you probably know their brands: Simplicity and McCall’s sewing patterns, Boye knitting and crocheting tools, Offray Ribbon, and La Mode and JHB buttons, just to name a few. I had the pleasure of choosing between either their Simplicity of McCall’s various pajama patterns and I landed on McCalls M5992 for both its versatility and the fact that I could make something for my dog nephew, Fuzz Lightyear.
If you’ve never made apparel before, pajamas are the perfect beginner project. I used a serger to sew most of the seams in this project, but you can totally use either of the stretch stitches on a domestic machine if you don’t have one. For both the pajama top and bottoms, I’ll share some construction tips and tricks that’ll help you get through this easy-breezy pattern.
The pattern calls for various substrates depending on what you’re wanting. I absolutely love the feel and fit of knit jersey pajamas, so I picked the three knit fabrics in my new Playroom Fabric Collection. In addition to the fabric, make sure to get a stretch needle and clips because other needles/pins could poke a hole in the knit that could run. I also recommend using a walking foot when sewing knit so that the fabric goes through the feed dogs without pulling.
CONSTRUCTION – Pajama Pants
For the pants, you will need pattern pieces 11 & 12, drawstring and something to get the drawstring through the waistband. From the two pattern pieces, you’ll need to cut two of each.
For the construction, there are basically four seams.
- First, stitch up the side seam of both legs.
- Next lay right side together and stitch up the front and back seams.
- Finally stitch up the inseam going from the bottom of one leg up the center and back down the second leg.
Now that you have the basic structure of the pants done, all that is left is creating the waistband seam, insert the drawstring and sew the hems. I’d totally suggest trying on the pants once the waist band is done to see where the bottom hits your foot. That will become the fold-line of your bottom hem. And if you don’t have a notion specific to inserting elastic or drawstrings, a safety pin on the end is the perfect “notion” to shimmy the drawstring through the waistband.
CONSTRUCTION – Pajama Shirt
For the knit pajama shirt, you’ll need pattern pieces 7, 8, 9 & 10 and will cut out a total of five fabric cut outs.
The main structure of the pajama shirt is similarly three sets of stitches.
- First, stitch up the two shoulder seams.
- Next, stitch each arm on the arm holes. Since the curves are opposing, try to keep both fabrics in their natural state as much as possible and adjust as you sew.
- Stitch each side seam starting from the bottom of the shirt and ending at the wrist of the arm.
Once the structure of the shirt is complete, the next two things are to finish the hems (bottom of shirt and arms) and to install the neckband. The hems are done the same as the pants, but if you’d like to see how I do the arm hems, I do those inside out like the picture with the pink fabric before this “Pajama Shirt” section.
For the neckband, I break both the neck hole and neckband tube in quarters and then clip the two together on those quarter marks. This makes it ever-so-slightly more taut toward the front, which allows the neckband to stay flat instead of floppy.
FASHION SHOW
Now here comes the fashion show of Fuzz and my Pajama Party. I sure hope y’all are inspired to make this pajama set so we can party together. If you have any questions or hit a snag during the process, feel free to reach out and I’ll help. This pattern is available at simplicity.com or at Joann stores and they have a bunch of other styles if any of those tickle your fancy more that this set.
OMG! I’m going to make myself some jammies, too! And then we can have that pyjama party with you cuties! Your pics are adorable. You think my cats would wear this, too? ??
I love this! It has been a century since I made garments; modern patterns (and their multi-size markings) have frustrated me to the point that I eventually gave up on them. You make this sound so simple! I recently picked up a vintage McCall’s pajama pattern (8844) in an antique store – I liked the pattern and I wanted to see if it was easier to follow than modern patterns. Whew! Well, I like the single-size markings way better, first off! The large clear print is nice, too. Question: If you are using flannel instead of a knit fabric, would you still use a stretch stitch? I suppose flannel is sort of a knit ~ and you have to have stretch in jammies, right?! I’m making the gown in this particular pattern, but you can bet I’m gonna run out and get the pattern that you’ve done so I can have cool style pajamas, too!
It really depends on how much give the flannel has. Some are stiffer than others
Great tips! Love the construction sequence diagrams! Thanks, Matthew!
Buzz Lightyear…???
Have been sewing gifts for almost everyone this year. You have inspired me to make ornaments, and sew rather than purchase my annual gift of pajama pants.to my kids. Do you have a pattern for the dog? My dog is about the same size as yours. Thanks!
The dog pattern is in the mccalls pattern I used
I haven’t made Pajamas since my kids where little. Time for a new pattern and pajamas for myself. I love your modeling pictures.