Pajama-a-Palooza

Has it already been 3 years since Nightgown-a-Palooza*? The teen has since declared that she is over nightgowns and wants pajamas.  When we were in Joann's, she fell in love with this Star Wars themed Porg flannel.  We both find porgs adorable so we purchased 2.5 yards, just as the pattern recommended.

Flannel shrinks more than other 100% cotton fabrics due to its loose weave.  I was courting danger by not buying extra to compensate.  Sure enough, the legs of the pajama pants are just a bit short and I added knit cuffs to extend the length and keep out drafts.

Butterick 4483 and porg flannel

I'm going to spare you the sight of the droopy crotch of the PJ pants in OOP Butterick 4483.  It looks indecisive.  Are they MC Hammer pants?  I put them in the out box, but then pulled them out.  I might make the PJ top at a later date.

In looking at the oddly shaped scraps after cutting out the pants, I wondered if I could piece them together into two pieces large enough to cut the torso of a loose T-top like Kwik Sew 3262.  I could.

When people see that I sew with old clothing, they give me bags of old clothing.  (My mother once gave me a bin of 26 T-shirts.)  A mom cleaning out her adult sons' rooms found half a dozen T-shirts for their old baseball league.  They had some rips or stains, but I was able to cut sleeves around the flaws.

I added the same rib knit I used in the PJ pants, purchased at SAS Fabrics in Hawthorne.

Roomy top 

In one item, I used:

• post-consumer waste (T-shirt, porg scraps)
• pre-consumer waste (knit ribbing with a few flaws purchased by the pound at an odd-jobber)

It's like I made something out of trash.  Oh, I did.

The complete set also contains new fabric specifically milled for the home sewing market so it spans the whole gamut of material options.  Sewing with old clothes can be disappointing if the worn fabric wears out too quickly. By mixing old and new materials, I can make something that lasts, but minimize the amount of new stuff we consume.  (It's even better if my new material is a flawed mill waste (rib knit) or overstock/deadstock fabric.)

We are consuming several planets worth of stuff.  It is definitely not sustainable or equitable. 

DD wears her clothes for years, until they fall apart.  I sew her sturdy clothes with a mix of new and used materials.  If we all did this, maybe the planet won't burn up.

Anyway, she loved the porg pajama set so much, it was difficult to get it off of her to do laundry.  I had a light purple pair of knit PJ pants that I wasn't wearing.  I wanted to make another flannel top to go with it.

After making a bunch of flannel bathrobes for everyone in my family, I had used up all my flannel.  I stopped by SAS Fabrics and found this overstock/deadstock fabric. The top pattern suggests 2 yards of 60" wide knit fabric.  I though that I could squeak by with 1 yard of 44" wide flannel if I pieced the back and mixed the crosswise and lengthwise grain.  (I preshrank the fabric in a hot wash and dry cycle to reduce puckering from differential shrinkage.)  There was even enough left over to make a pocket for her cell phone or cold hands.

Second sleep set with new top and my underutilized knit pants made years ago.

She liked the pocket so much, she asked me to retrofit the first set with pockets. There were no porg flannel scraps left. I cut up one T-shirt sleeve and then re-seamed it so that the hems fall along the side openings and then topstitched it on the top. It looks really cool.

Improved first set with pocket

* In reading Nightgown-a-Palooza, I realized that there is was one more nightgown that I failed to blog.  I rather like the way that I made do with short yardage for that one so I will post it shortly.