A while back I put together a list of some things I wanted to work on over the course of the first quarter (or year) and the top item, at least in my mind, was a new pair of jammies!  I ended up hitting a sah-weet sale at Hobby Lobby and scored McCall’s Pattern #M5990 for just $1.00!

It’s part of their Easy Endless Options grouping.  I figured it was a good way for me to get back into the swing of using a pattern without losing my mind and chucking the whole thing halfway through.  I decided to create the long-sleeved top along with the bottoms, and to use ribbon at the contrasting arm and leg bands.  For my first attempt I chose a plain navy blue cotton trimmed with deep red ribbon with white polka dots and plain white shank style buttons from my vintage collection.

Classic and simple!

The only frustration I experienced with this pattern was in the fit of the pants.  Before beginning this project I took my measurements and used the larger sized bottom pattern that stated it should result in a fit at least 2 inches bigger in the hips than I needed.  I thought that would be ample room for reworking the fit if needed, as well as, just adding some comfort.  Unfortunately, I ended up with a much tighter hip area than expected.  I can certainly get the pants on, they just don’t have the roominess I was hoping for.  Right now I am hesitating to alter them considering I am pregnant and could just be experiencing that weird thing that happens when your body seems to change shape overnight.  I would hate to drastically change the pants only to discover later that they are indeed just fine.  I think the next go around I will spend more time with the fit before moving on to the finishing process.

Also, because I don’t have a lot of experience using fusible interfacing, I took the advice of the fabric store attendant and went with the medium to heavy weight.  Once finished, I realized I could have used a much lighter weight, but I am guessing that after several trips through the washing machine these stiff areas with loosen up.  In the end, with fabric sales and coupons, I spent right at $36.00 for this pair of pajamas.  I definitely could have scored a finished pair at a discount store for the same price or maybe less, but I was able to put together a color combo exactly as I wanted and at a price that, in the end, really is not too bad.

All in all this was a very simple pattern to follow and I hope to make the jump to patterned fabric with a nice contrast fabric for the cuffs with my next try.

What have you guys been experimenting with lately?

Erika