pyjamas Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Handmade by Carolyn

Carolyn shirt and shortie shorts, take one

29/03/2015 3:39 pm \ 22 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! So what’s new? hmmm not much.
Well OK, of course I am wearing something that has not yet appeared here on the ol’ bloggeroonie.
My shirt and my shorts are another pair of Carolyn pyjamas by Closet Case patterns, made a few months ago. These are the first ones that I made actually, months ago! using an earlier version of the pattern, before Heather changed the shape of the collar for her final pattern release.
So technically they are not really new, nor are they “pyjamas” for me either since I have every intention of wearing each of the pieces as daywear, actually out and about and in public. Why? well, I used such really nice fabric, a particularly lovely slubby soft cotton from Fabulous Fabrics and I feel like it’s just too good for bed! Also, maybe I’m biased, since well, you know, they have my name on them and all! but I do really like both the pieces in this pattern such a lot. The shirt has such a crisply classic, yet easily swingy shape to it, with a very nice curve to the lower hemline. I left off all piping, and I like to wear the shirt with their long cuffs casually and cooly rolled up.

I made the set really as nicely as I could, flat-felling all the seams in the shirt. Well I’ve been flat felling all the seams in the shirts I make for my boys for ages so felt like maybe I too deserved a little of that same attention to detail 🙂

My own tip for flat-felling a shirts curved armscye seams is here, and another for just regular flat-felled seams is here

I think the shortie shorts are very cute too, and I actually have worn these out and about! in public! *gasp* several times during our holiday, with the elastic waistband hidden away underneath a longer overhanging top, so it doesn’t show. I am slightly allergic to visibly elasticated waistbands in daywear. But yes, of course they are super comfy, that cannot be denied. I think the shorts with a turned-up cuff, peeping out underneath a long top, make a really fun and playful look for summer.

Just exactly the same as I did for my previously blogged black Carolyn shorties, I like for shortie shorts to have the turned-up cuff look, so I constructed the cuff slightly differently to the pattern to have this feature. I left off the piping, and sewed the cuffs on with a narrow seams allowance and then turned up and pressed a 1cm fold-up. Then turned under the cuff and pressed under the other SA so the SA fold sits directly underneath that stitching line. Then underneath the first fold, I sewed all the layers underneath together by stitching-in-the-ditch of the shorts/cuff seam; so that folded-up cuff is sewn securely and permanently in place and you can see no visible stitching on the outside, since it is all hidden inside the cuff.

Details:
Shirt and shorts; Closet Case patterns Carolyn pyjamas, in white cotton

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Carolyn, Closet Case files, pyjamas, shirt, shorts

Carolyn pyjamas

09/02/2015 5:51 am \ 56 Comments \ Carolyn

I was supremely flattered when Heather of Closet Case patterns contacted me to ask if it was ok to
name her latest pattern after me… wow, seriously?!

!!!!!

*deeply flattered moment*

So the Carolyn pattern is for pyjamas, hehe.
Yep, I inspired pyjamas! Honestly
I’m not sure why I find that borderline hilarious, but there it is!

I have to say though; it’s amazing that Heather totally has her
finger on the pulse of what everyone is currently needing to wear and sew.

Loungewear.

Very astute. I mean, I love Vogue patterns for their smart
little fitted designer dresses, and have often thought that the working woman can do no wrong
by sewing up nothing but little Vogue dresses for her office/working wardrobe…
so smart and stylish and absolutely perfect for a businesswoman’s life. but here’s the thing, the number of people
working from home has increased significantly over the last few years and
comfortable loungewear is definitely a thing that work-from-home peeps are
stocking up on for their working life, not just for their after hours life. A few years ago, who’d have thought it? But
now totally this is a real trend. I
mean, I work from home myself. And although I need and want to dress up smartly for many things in my life, my real wardrobe workhorses lean towards the easy-to-wear and casual.

Enter stage right; stylish and smart loungewear.

The things one would actually wear to bed are generally loose-fitting to enable
minimum chance of ripping or restraint while one is unconsciously flailing about, but Heather’s new
Carolyn (pinch me!) pyjamas have a slightly sleek and tailored air to them; a body
skimming rather than blouse-y line, that in the right fabrics one could happily
wear outside the house if one so wished.
Without looking like one is wearing pyjamas!

With that in mind, I chose to make my test pair in luxe-ish, not-bedwear but daywear like fabrics; namely silk hessian for the body of the top, poly organza for the sleeves and
a silk/cotton for the collar and cuffs.
The little shorts are in a soft, lightweight polycotton. These were all from the remnant table at
Fabulous Fabrics.

I chose to make view C with long sleeves on the top and leaving off any piping. I love piping as much as the next person… however I felt piping in this shirt/shorts style IS going totally “pyjama” and I’m serious about wanting to wear my outfit out and about. In the streets even!

The shirt is a classic, sleek, unfitted style, with notched collar and a gently curved hemline. I felled the seams in the body of the top and French seamed those sheer sleeve seams. The armscye seams were overlocked before stitching down to the shirt body to finish; faux felling, if you like!

The shorts are super quick and easy things to whip up, with satisfying huge
pockets. The pockets are the same fold-back design
that Heather used in her Ginger jeans, which was the
very first time I had come across pockets like this in my 40+ yrs of sewing . Yes, really!
I’m starting to think of them as her signature pockets.

I made my shorts with the cuff as per the pattern, but sans piping and with the cuff invisibly stitched in place from inside the fold, so it appears to be a folded-up cuff. I like this cuffed look on the bottom of shorty shorts like these 🙂

So… do I love the Carolyn pattern, well heck yes! The shirt especially is an easy classic shape and tres chic, in my opinion. I will definitely be making both pieces again, maybe even as actual pyjamas!
As for my fabric choices for my test sample here… well, I was using all remnants and my favourite part is the sheer and floaty, leaf organza sleeves, and I also love the strength of the black accent collar and cuff details. However while the roughly textured, stone silk hessian seemed like a good idea at the time, now I’m not so sure if it’s letting down the rest of the ensemble. Hmmmmm. I’m gonna wear it for a while and sleep on it – by that I mean figuratively not literally, of course! but don’t be surprised if a dye job or small subsitutory type of refashion happens on this bit in the near future!

Details:
Set; the Carolyn (eek!) pyjamas by Closet Case patterns, shirt in silk hessian, poly organza, silk cotton; shorts in polycotton

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Carolyn, Closet Case files, pattern review, pyjamas, shirt, shorts

a natty little nightie

16/11/2014 2:47 am \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

This was a need.
A very desperate need.
My lovely, fluffy, cosy, snuggly warm winter PJ’s are rapidly becoming unbearably so, meaning…
IT’S SUMMER NIGHTIE TIME!!!!
I wanted the “IT’S CLOBBERING TIME!!” font for that bit there, but Blogger’s font selection is lacking in such niceties so all caps will have to do. We’ll just have to imagine it, ok?
Pattern; McCalls 4454, lengthened from a pretty little camisole to nightie length. With in seam side pockets added, just because.
Fabric; I managed to eke the pieces to the very last scrap from the leftovers of my sew bossy dress, a pretty cotton floral sent to me by reana louise. Thanks, Reana! It’s such a nice quality fabric. I didn’t have quite enough blue floral for straps, but I found a little piece of pink and white poly gingham that I cut into bias strips to make the straps and to finish the top edge, and also made a short, super skinny spaghetti tube for the little decorative bow on the front. I originally bought this gingham to make little pinked-edge caps for jars of lemon butter, the year I enthusiastically made jars and jars and jars recurring of the stuff to give away to friends. Note to self: I MUST do that again next year. Was hopelessly overrun with lemons this year. Lazy me.

Anyway, now that scrappy little leftover bit of pink gingham has proven itself useful I can smugly pat myself on the back for keeping it all this time. Ha! that’s all I need, more justification for hoarding those awful little bitty scraps! Merely aiding and abetting the beast, that’s what.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: McCalls 4454, pyjamas

Jim jams

26/06/2014 7:21 am \ 32 Comments \ Carolyn

Mundane, but oh so welcome and necessary. I’ve been absolutely freezing!!! at night lately and my old winter jammies were as thin as! so this was highest of high on my list of priorities. But it had to still sit waiting patiently in the wings for the all important Magicka robe to get made first, ahem.
Both top and bottom are made from nice and warm fluffy cotton flannel from Spotlight; the top is a modified version of pattern 121/122 from Burdastyle magazine 10/2009 and the bottoms are kinda self-drafted.

The top: actually I’ve been eyeing off this Burda magazine pattern for yonks and dreaming of making it up in a suedette and this new jammie top is sort of my “muslin”, if you like. I loathe wasting fabric on muslins and nearly always prefer to make something hopefully wearable, even when testing out a new pattern for the first time. So; this PJ top. It was a little bit hideous in its first, unmodified state; I ended up shortening it by about 12cm; slanted off the front neckline to be a V-neck and sewed the slit together at three spots which were covered up with three little buttons.
All the seams are sort of a faux version of flat felled seams. By this I mean I sewed all the seams normally, overlocked the raw edges cutting close to the seam stitching and then laid the seam allowances to one side and top-stitched them down 5mm (1/4″) away from the seam stitching.

at left, “looks” like a properly flat felled seam, but on the inside, o noes! it’s plain to see now that this is the cheat’s version…

I also added an interesting breast pocket; this was also a rough try-out for this pocket that I pinned a while ago.

The bottoms; standard regular baggy trouser bottoms with an elasticated waist. I made them the same way I’ve been making my PJ bottoms for yonks now: namely years ago I saved an OK-fitting RTW pair that had had it, and cut it up for a pattern. I’m saying “self-drafted” because I’ve made multiple minor modifications, in this case an added a faux fly front, narrowed the waist and raised the waist rise, made them wider in the leg and longer in the leg and added in-seam side pockets. My advice, PJ bottoms are like the easiest thing in the entire world, so when you are looking for a good pattern, just cut up an old pair for a pattern and make your own little modifications, do whatever you like, it’s almost impossible to stuff up PJ bottoms. Easy peasy, and you can spend that money saved on the fabric for your new pair instead!

Details:
Top, modified version of Burdastyle magazine 10/2009, 121-122, cotton flannelette,
Bottoms; self cobbled together, cotton flannelette
Socks; hand-knitted by me to a 60’s pattern, details here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle 10/2009-121, own design, pocket, pyjamas, seams

Perchance to dream

27/10/2012 11:00 pm \ 19 Comments \ Carolyn

I have made some rather daggy baggy shorts, but
don’t worry. Style has not flown
out the window. After today, these are my new summer
PJ bottoms!

I used a too-small-for-anything-else piece of polycotton, crazily colourful and wildly patterned; given to me by my friend C from her late mother’s stash. It is very nice for summer PJ’s really; light and flowy yet closely woven and sturdy. One just has to be careful about looking at that rather garish floral print. Which I think I can manage, since I will be tucked up in bed with my eyes shut for most of the time I’ll be wearing it.

kidding! it’s actually rather luscious, don’t you think?

I made these using my usual pattern, adapted from off an old pair cut up yonks ago for this very purpose and from which I have made all my PJ bottoms for the past few years.

With added pockets naturally…. because; well, when it comes to the question of pockets in a garment, if one can then one does, amiright?

I gave them a decorative fly front, and found three purple buttons in my stash that are a pretty good match!

With regards to my white shirt here: no, that is not
sleepwear; but more a lame attempt to disguise the fact that I am, tut tut,
actually wearing my pyjama bottoms out in public; shock, horror. Really for the top half of my PJ’s I’ll
be downgrading one of these little tees. I opted not to wear said little tee out today because together
they really do unmistakably scream “PJ’s!!” It’s the elastic waistband I think (shudder) Even
for Australia, even for the beach….. yeah, no.

Actually I had almost forgotten I even had this lovely
white shirt… which is pretty dumb of me since it is kinda perfect for the delightful spring weather we are having. It’s
not too hot for it yet, and it gives really good coverage from the sun. I have
rediscovered my love for this shirt since seeing Merche’s truly fabulous version of this pattern. Isn’t it great that
we can simultaneously wear our shirts on opposite sides of the world, despite
having opposite seasons?

a moment of reflection…

Details:

Shorts; self drafted with the help of an old pair of
PJ’s, polycotton

Shirt; Burdastyle magazine 10/2010, shirt 102, lightweight
ivory cotton, details and my review of this pattern here

Hat; pilfered from my husband

Sienna; is wearing her own PJ’s as well…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, own design, pyjamas, shorts, Sienna

Gingham PJs

20/04/2012 4:25 am \ 32 Comments \ Carolyn

I do apologise for the complete and utter lack of chicness and elegance today, and this is not an ensemble one would ever see gracing the pages of Vogue magazine… but I’m sure every woman secretly harbours an undying love for flannelette PJ bottoms in her heart… yes? I know I know, we are supposed to spend our days swanning about in some elegant little number complete with gorgeous heels, and then at home slip into some sort of lace-y, slinky, satiny little thing for our down time…
But seriously. Let’s get real here. Our secretly favourite part of the day is really when we get to throw off the elegance and put on our extremely unsexy and unflattering but warm and cuddly and oh-so-comfy ginormously huge elastic waist pants; and curl up on the couch with a book and a cup of tea.
Or is that just me….? 🙂
I am taking part in two pyjama parties here! (ooh, it’s been yonks since I went to a pyjama party!) firstly Terri‘s Pyjama Party today, over in her secret room. And also Karen’s Pyjama Party; only that party was planning to make their pj’s over a period of a few weeks. As it was, my old pj bottoms ripped a bit when I sat on a splinter recently… it’s OK, I’m not sad; they were old and getting pretty thin about the bottoomba *, but I did need some newies, fast!
(* bottoomba; old family word, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable)

So I ran out to Spotlight, the fabric was bought and I made these up in about half an hour, that same afternoon, to wear that same night. Yah, I know; I am not known for my patience. But well, these are just pj’s for goodness sakes! the easiest make in the world…
My pattern is kinda self-drafted… when my very last pair of store-bought pj pants wore out I cut them up for a pattern, added a few little modifications of my own and have been using that ever since.
They have an elastic waist, two inseam side pockets and a false fly. Normally I loathe false anything on a garment, but paradoxically I really do like a false fly on pj’s. Just a random excuse to sport a few cute and really fun buttons, for no reason other than frivolously whimsical decoration. You know, the sort of button you secretly fall in love with but could never use on a real garment 🙂 These buttons were leftovers from these shorts here, when I had to buy a card of 4 buttons but only needed 1.

Details:
PJ bottoms; my own design, gingham printed cotton flannelette
Tshirt; Country Road, old enough now that it has been delegated to sleepwear

Pocket:

False fly:

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: own design, pyjamas, Sienna

To sleep, perchance to dream

11/10/2010 3:46 am \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

With the change in the season, comes a need for change in all areas of apparel, including the mundane and practical such as sleepwear…
I did have a few highblown and fancy ideas for my summer jammies this year, but got real and decided to be practical… for over a year, this purple fabric has languished in my stash. It wasn’t always this gare-ish colour. In fact I bought it as a subtly beautiful white-on-white floral-embossed fabric. About two years ago, hehe. Was uninspired for a year or so. Then had a brainwave, hopped over to the dye section of Spotlight one visit and purchased some vivid purple dye. Had visions of a vivid deep deep purple blouse, with, I dunno, raspberry buttons, or something equally exciting. Can you imagine? This is when I was trying to colour up my wardrobe, my only excuse. Plunged the fabric enthusiastically into the dye bath. Even took a photo, of my “work of art in progress”, hehe. As you can see, the differences the embossing made to the nature of the fabric surfaces made for a less than beautiful end result. At the time I likened it to a sort of Willy Wonka-ish nightmare after a too-rich evening meal. With a slight shudder, I stuffed the fabric quietly into the back of my fabric cupboard, and moved on, got on with life. An important dye-ing lesson learned; TEST A SCRAP FIRST.

But a year later, I’m coming round, getting realistic about using up the stash. The fabric is nice quality; fine and thin, not terribly crushable, is breathable. I’m not as horrified by the print any more. I figured this could work as pyjama bottoms. I also had an old Tshirt that I was no longer wearing (I know, old Tshirts are so passe as sleepwear, but this was still in very good nick and still looks pretty good, just I’m not into it any more)
So voila. The pyjama bottoms are drafted from an old nicely fitting pair that I had from years ago and have kept rolled up with my pattern collection for this very reason. I added pockets, because I had some leftover after cutting out the main pieces, and so why not… and some ribbon ties at knee level in case I want to bunch the pants up to knee level when the temperatures ramp up. The waistband is enclosed elastic and the lime green ribbon tie at the front is purely decorative, I also sewed on a false fly and three non-functional lime green buttons on the fly.

Details:
Pyjama bottoms; drafted from old pair, purple dyed cotton mix
Pyjama top; Aztec Rose

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dyeing, own design, pyjamas, Sienna

To sleep, perchance to dream

18/10/2009 8:16 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

With the lovely warm summery weather here to stay, fingers crossed, its time to don summer jammies. My choice this year is sort of what a saucy fifties housewife might choose. The colours of mint green combined with red are kind of fifties, I think. The lace with red ribbon is very lingerie, and not pairing it with either black, red or white saves it from being tarty. A final touch was the three apple buttons, (Eve, gettit?) left over from a baby jumper I knitted many moons ago. The shorts have POCKETS! Well, I had enough fabric, so why not. The shorts were made using last year’s summer pyjama bottoms as a template, cut off short. The top is McCalls 4454 view C without the tie. I’ve used this pattern many times, and usually modify it by sewing it much narrower at the torso (about 4cm each side) and inserting a left side zip, but this time its as is and about 5cm longer.