Easy Peasy Jammies

Easy Pajama and Robe Pattern. Out of Print

I’ve had this pattern for a while and wanted to make it up. It’s very versatile and easy to fit.  I chose a cotton sea gull print and even though in my mind I was making pajamas, I couldn’t help remembering back to when I was a child and my Mom would order clothing from either Sears or Penney’s or Montgomery Ward. She’d order these short sets made of cotton that would come wrapped in cellophane. She’d make me try them on and then she would begin putting tags in them so I could take them to camp.

I made the cropped top and shorts version of this pattern.  I can also see these made up in a cozy flannel for winter and I will surely make this again with longer pants and a long sleeved top.

The construction of these jammies was basically unremarkable except for doing something a bit different to ease the sleeves into the armholes. As Connie Crawford suggested in the current issue of Threads Magazine, I decided to try the gathering foot.  I didn’t have a Bernina gathering foot, but I did have a generic low shank foot and a Bernina adapter for the 830E.

Generic gathering foot on the Bernina adapter. Notice the slot on the side that can be use to sew gathered fabric onto ungathered fabric.

I’ve tried several ways of gathering sleeves including the old faithful way of sewing two lines of basting stitches and pulling the bobbin threads to gather the sleeve. I’ve also tried the zig zagging over a thicker thread.  The most recent way I’ve been gathering sleeves is to place my finger behind the presser foot and holding the fabric against the back of the foot. That works pretty good except I found the gathers hard to adjust. Using the gathering foot, you can adjust the stitch length for more or less gathers. Once you are finished a line of stitching, you can adjust the gathers and in the case of these pajamas, I was able to slide some gathering out.

Gathered sleeve ready to be applied to armscye

If you are making this pattern, be very sure to note that there are different neck facing pieces for each size. I didn’t make the robe, but I think it was the same for the collar on the robe. Read the pattern pieces carefully before cutting out. There was some confusion expressed by a few of the reviewers on the PatternReview site.

Completed Jammies McCalls 3454