Planning and Design
A long long time ago, I made pajama shorts for my husband using Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fabric from Spotlight. The time has come for them to be retired 😝 So my husband very politely requested I make him some new ones…at some point. Very considerate of him, he fully understands how many projects I have planned HAHA.
So we did look out for other nerd fabric that could be used. But unfortunately he hates Splatoon 3 (he bought the fabric early on after the game released not realising he would hate it) and he didn’t want to use the Kirby or Pom Pom Purin fabric he also brought back from Japan as they are too pink. Luckily there was a fabric that I had chosen in the Japan fabric haul – a print on a dark blue background that was covered in cats in coffee cups 😸 When he sent me a photo of the fabric I didn’t notice that there were spelling errors (such as ‘Ised Coffee’) so when I saw it up close I wasn’t too sure what to do with it. But pajama shorts would work! I counted on him forgetting that the fabric existed and made plans to secretly sew it as a Christmas present.
As camoflage, when Matatabi Fabrics started their Boxing Day Sale a couple of days prior to Christmas, I showed him the Nekokan prints and asked if he would wear any of them as PJs. He chose the blue, so I ordered it and told him I would sew them in the new year 🙃 Which worked out because I had two shorts to replace.
Materials
- Pattern:
- Modified Burda Easy 2691
- Fabric:
- Coffee Cats quilting cotton (Nippori Fabric Town)
- Nekokan Matatabi B (Miss Matatabi)
- Notions:
- Bulk white elastic 2.5cm (Textile Traders)
Construction
So I took the old shorts to compare against the pattern because I knew I made adjustments. I recall that I only just fit the pieces on a 1m length of fabric 😅 This time I used french seams (recently I’ve been enjoying not using the overlocker at all lol). But because I did that, the crotch seam was more rigid and my husband requested the waist height be extended for comfort. So I needed to do a bit of trial and error to figure out how best to attach the elastic casing.
Following successful completion of shorts #1, I decided to create a proper paper pattern for these shorts. I had just ordered some dot and cross pattern making paper so decided to try using that. I love it 😍 Not as thick as tracing paper but sturdier than pattern tissue paper. Also transparent enough to trace and easy to erase pencil markings. I had purchased this because I wanted to stop using polyester vilene (for sustainability reasons) but knew I didn’t like the tracing paper (I generally used Birch brand since I could get it from the local sewing centre). So total convert here. It’s nice to pin through as well, keeps its shape while being easy enough to slide pins through without damaging it much at all. I also referred to this post because I was wondering what marker would be best for pattern making. Turns out a normal mechanical pencil is best, which is nice because I’ve been gifted two of the fancy lead-rotating type from Japan and now I have lots of reasons to use them 😁 It’s super nice to be able to make mistakes and just be able to erase it 🤣 maybe I’ll now get through the huge stockpile of mechanical pencil lead I’ve had since highschool days LOL. Glad I held onto my fancy-ish erasers too.
Then it was just a matter of cutting and sewing shorts #2. I’m quite pleased at how I adjusted the pattern to fit onto 1m of fabric 😁
Reflections
Lets see how many years these ones last 🤣 The previous ones held on for at least 7 years 🤔
Things I learnt:
- Because it was a secret project and I had a deadline I sewed this at night…while I had a headache from work. Definitely not ideal sewing conditions. Avoid whenever possible…
- Because I was so tired I sewed right sides together for the french seam and cut it which is WRONG. Luckily my second seam stitch helped guide me to put it back together properly after I unpicked it all
- French seams are durable but inflexible. Just something to remember in future.
Categories: Sewing
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