Lounging In Style

What’s all this? Pyjamas!? Yes I’m trying something a little different to break me out of my sewing funk.

I’ve joined the Minerva Blogger Network and I’m really excited to share what I’ve sewn.

For my first project I wanted to indulge myself with a little bit of luxury. My eyes lit up when I saw this beautiful bird-print satin on Minerva’s website. I decided fancy-pants satin pyjamas had to happen and I really hope you’re inspired to make these too.

I chose the McCalls 6659 sleepwear pattern as it’s designed for silks and satins, plus it has the classic pyjama-style I was keen on. Ignoring the samples the model is wearing (which hurt my eyeballs) I could see brilliant possibilities in the line drawings.

There are different sleeve lengths and hem styles to choose from for the shirt, as well as an optional patch pocket and instructions for adding piping. For the bottoms you can pick between shorts, a standard wider leg or a slim leg version.  McCalls suggest the slim leg variation could double as pyjama-style trousers – in case you’re eager to get in on that trend.

My finished pyjamas are a hybrid of view C and D for the shirt and view G for the bottoms. I was very tempted to make the dressing gown but resisted in the end – maybe another day.

The piping came from my stash as I wanted to pick out some of the details of the shirt and the cuffs of the bottoms.

For the basic construction I used French seams over 99% of the top and bottoms – I only serged the crotch seam and the armholes, and that’s because I was being too lazy to French seam them as well!  I used a very fine needle with polyester thread and a small stitch length.

Finally I added a little bow instead of the tie front as I think it’s a little sweeter.

My kit is available to buy here! And if you hadn’t noticed, the pattern is also available on the Minverva website separately here.

I know Satin can be a little intimidating but I’ve put together some further information about how to work with the fabric. A lot of the points apply to silk and other slippery fabrics, so please take a look!

If the idea of working with Satin still scares you, I’d suggest picking up a copy of this pattern and some lovely lightweight cotton lawn like this or if you’re feeling daring some of this, which will work just as well but give you a bit more control.