Here is the last of my crafty Christmas presents (I had grand plans to do a few more, but that was derailed by moving and applying to graduate school so I hope you can forgive me). Like the other two ideas these are cheap, easy and suitable for all sorts of people. Because who doesn’t need a million pairs of:
Pajama Pants
These are not in fact my size… but you get the idea
These are pretty much a staple of my Christmas gift giving, and they always seem to go over well. You can make them for anyone, and they are pretty forgiving if you guestimate on the sizing. Pro tip: always er on the side of too big.
Materials
Fabric – This is a wonderful excuse to pick out some super cute fabric. This year I am going with tiny dinosaurs destroying a city for my brother-in-law. You will need 2-3 yards of fabric depending on the size of the person you are making them for. Also important to note, if like mine your fabric has some sort of direction you will also need more fabric.
Plus thread, and a 1 to 1.5 yards of 1 inch wide elastic.
Construction
1) Cut out your pieces.
The easiest way to do PJs is to take a pair (ideally belonging to the person you are making them for) and use them as your pattern. I will, however, be guessing on the sizing and basing them on a pair of my own scaled up. You can also use the cutting diagram below.
Fold your fabric in half and lay the pair of PJs you have on your fabric. If you are scaling them, figure out the size you want to make it and what the size differential will be for the following measurements – inseam, hips, waist, and crotch. For me, I am adding to each piece roughly 4in to the inseam, 6in to the hips, 4in to the waist and 2in to the crotch. Repeat this for the other side, so in the end you will have 4 pieces (front left/ front right/ back left/ back right).
Here you can see my Pjs on top, in comparison to the pair I am making and how I adjusted the size.
2) Sew the crotch seams together (front pieces together and back pieces together).
3) Matching up crotch seams, sew the inseams together.
4) Sew the outside leg seams together.
At this point you should have two pant legs, and a big loose waist.
Optional: I like to add a faux fly (aka some stitching) to delineate which side is the front.
5) For the waist band – trim the edge if needed to even it up and then fold over about and inch and a half. Sew this down leaving a gap to thread in the elastic.
6) Thread in the elastic. Stitch the elastic ends together (being careful not to twist it), and then sew the hole closed.
7) Hem the bottom of the pants.
DESTROY!
