Dreaming of Christmas

Last year I made the Littles each a set of Christmas pajamas. Which I failed to photograph or post about, of course! Little Man had a red moustache shirt with green pants, Laddie got a green moustache shirt with red pants, and Rosa got a red-and-green FairIsle nightgown with red pants. They're all still wearing them regularly! So when I passed a rack of adorable (and DEEPLY discounted) fabric at JoAnn's a few months ago, I couldn't resist having another go. Maybe this will be a tradition?

Of course, I made it easy on myself last year by using knit fabrics. No closures required! But this year I fell in love with flannel. Not only that, but I purchased the fabric without knowing how much I'd actually need. Always a good idea... 

I had no suitable patterns for the boys, so I decided to wing it by tracing existing shirts. I'd already decided to nix any kind of collar, and opt for a simple v-neck button-up. Less fabric and less stress. I drafted all of the pants patterns from existing pants, too. I'm becoming more confident with that (for pajamas, at any rate!), and I kept the patterns I made for use as the children grow -- no sense going through the work again. I tried to make everything a tad on the roomy side, so there's room to grow. 

Miraculously, they went together with very little effort! Laddie's sleeves required a little extra finagling, but they worked. I made a facing (using the black buffalo check, because I ran out of the bus fabric), which finished off the neck edge nicely. I didn't even bother to keep the image uninterrupted across that front opening -- these are pajamas, after all! The "stripes" match up, and that's good enough for me. *wink*

I didn't have any appropriate buttons on hand (somehow my vast collection of mother-of-pearl buttons didn't seem quite right...), so I picked up eight cheap black buttons for less than $2. Again, pajamas.

For Rosa, I thought the buses were not just the thing. Lo and behold, on the same rack of fabric there was a distinctly feminine Eiffel Tower print! And nearby was a matching pink check flannel. Perfect for my Madeline-loving little girl.

I used McCall's 5695, a pattern that's been in my stash for ages. However, I used the short puffed sleeve pattern piece and lengthened it to make a long sleeve -- I do NOT like the "bell" shaped long sleeve in the pattern that's fitted at the armscye and gathered at the wrist. Gathers at top and bottom, thank-you-very-much.

Simple pants (with a bit of ruffle at the top!), a silver plastic KAM snap for the back opening, and these pajamas were done.

As for my fabric? I couldn't piece together the scraps of all four fabrics to even make a yard! Somehow I managed to buy the perfect amount, despite having no idea what patterns I was going to use -- or even a solid design idea, for that matter. Hopefully these will loved as much as last year's pajamas. And hopefully they'll fit, too...

They'll get to open these on Christmas Eve, so they can wear them for Christmas morning. A little extra excitement, and something that will be well-loved and used in the coming year.