Sometimes you just have to
#embracethecrazy, and this Fabric is most definitely crazy. If you like Christmas and animals though this is the fabric for you. In my opinion, it’s probably something that would fit in with the ugly Christmas trend that has recently taken off (something I’ve been rocking for years). I am a self-proclaimed Christmas nut and don’t believe you can ever be too Christmassy so this fabric was too good to resist.
The Jersey Fabric itself is really soft, and of a really lovely quality. It has a great level of stretch that pings back each time (one difference between a good and bad quality stretch fabric is how well it recoils). It was a real pleasure to work with, as it handled and sewed beautifully. The pattern itself consists of various dogs, cats, a rabbit and guinea pig all wearing Christmas hats and interlaced between Christmas presents. It’s wonderfully festive and a huge amount of fun.
I toyed with a few ideas of things to make with this fabric (a skater dress being one of them) but I just absolutely love making Christmas pyjamas. I had 2 meters of this so decided I would make my son (aged 2) a onesie, but imagine my delight when due to how wonderfully wide this fabric is that I had enough to make myself some pyjama bottoms too!
Now I didn’t use a pattern for either of these makes… it’s a really simple process making the pattern for these using your existing clothes as a template and a great way to try out making your own patterns if you haven’t before. (Note, I use dot and cross pattern paper here but any paper that’s on a roll would work or you could just draw straight into the fabric)
Onesie:
This process is just about trying to get a general shape, don’t get too worked up about being exact as the stretch fabric is very forgiving.
I took one of my son’s pyjama sets, folded them in half and laid them out on a piece of paper so that the top overlapped the trousers by approximately the same amount that they do when he’s wearing them. I then traced around, making the crotch slightly lower (I prefer a harem style low crotch than one where you’re going to get wedgied but this is optional). I drew the front and the back neckline out on the same pattern (when you cut them out of fabric just cut 1 with each neckline)
Draw the sleeve in the same way (just like for the front and back you only need to draw half, you’ll cut it out on the fold). The cuff pieces are 2 rectangles, they should be 2cm smaller than the edge of the pattern they’ll be attached to (so they stretch slightly when inserted) and twice the length you want them (mine are 16cm long for the legs and 12cm long for the arms). You then cut them on the fold so that they fit the whole way around the sleeve/legs.
Don’t forget to add your seam allowance to all of these pieces before starting (making sure not to add it to the straight edge of the sleeve that will be placed on the fold)
The fiddliest part of this make is the front opening. The easiest thing to do would be to insert a zip so if you don’t fancy this after reading just do that. I think they can feel quite scratchy if you’re not wearing anything underneath so I opted for a snap fastening which means you need to create a placket. Using 2 strips of fabric (4cm wide by about 2/3 the length of the centre front). Fold 1 strip in half lengthways and right sides together sew one short edge (the bottom) and then turn back out. Then sew both raw edges to one side of the centre front. I like to topstitch the seam allowance in place to the front to keep the placket folded out. On the other side sew 1 side of the strip to the front edge and then fold it all the way to the inside (folding in the top and bottom as you do) and topstitch in place to create your facing.
To sew the onesie up, sew the front to the back at the inner leg seams. Now sew the full crotch seam from the back neck to the base of the placket (this is sewn in 1 long seam to add strength as this seam always takes the most stress on trousers). Sew the sleeve to the armhole and then the entire side seam and underarm edge can be sewn as one long seam.
The cuffs are one of my favourite things to do as they finish off a hem edge on a jersey garment in a really lovely way. Fold a cuff piece in half and sew up the side to create a tube. Then fold this in half wrong sides together and attach the 2 raw edges to the hem edge of your garment… and repeat for the other cuffs.
I finished off the neck edge with a t-shirt finish. Measure the neckline and cut a strip 2cm smaller than the neckline and the same width as the placket. Finish the 2 short edges as before and then stretching slightly as you go pin sew both raw edges to the neck edge and then sew in place. Topstitched the seam allowance to the garment as before. Add the snap fastenings and then you’re onesie is ready to wear!
Continued in next post...
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