His and Hers Pajamas (Closet Case Carolyn & Vogue 8964)

Nice pajama sets are something that I love to wear but go back and forth on making. It seems silly to spend so much time doing a lot of fiddly sewing that really, no one is going to see (um, if you don\’t have a sewing blog). Once I\’m done, of course, I love the results and practically live in them–precisely because no one sees them, you end up wearing your pjs more frequently than other clothes!

I\’ve had these flamingo pajamas cut out for literally years; you\’ve probably seen them hanging in a little ziplock bag taped to my sewing studio wall in some of my instagram stories! The time finally arrived for me to, you know, actually sew them. And since pjs for Alex were on my #menswearmakenine why not knock out two pairs at once?

Not much to say about the Carolyns that hasn\’t already been said. Had I not already had these all cut out, I will admit I probably would have made a pair of Evie la Luve Lexi Boxers instead of the Carolyn shorts–those are much simpler and although they wouldn\’t be a perfect match… it\’s pajamas. Since the Carolyn shorts were cut out though, I went with them! I have a bit of the flamingo fabric left over that I\’m going to use to make an Ogden cami. Ogden + sleep shorts (as seen here) is my favorite hot-weather pj combo, so having a cami to swap out for the sleep shirt will be a great option!

I also want to take a minute to sing the praises of Harts Fabric. No, this is not a sponsored post! When I originally bought the flamingo fabric with the plan of making Carolyns, I thought I\’d use black piping. However, when Tilly and the Buttons released their Rosa shirtdress and one of the samples used a similar flamingo print with a black piping, I decided I didn\’t love it, and then had to find a matching piping… I called Harts and they managed to scrounge up a scrap of this (by then, sold out) fabric and scoured the store for a coordinating fabric in the same weight that they thought would look good as piping. They were accommodating and friendly and really went the extra mile. They have also done the same for me when I needed help choosing stretch denims and other coordinating fabric! It\’s extra helpful that they always know what\’s going on in the online sewing world; I can ask \”would this be appropriate for a pair of Ginger jeans?\” and they know exactly what I\’m talking about and have an informed opinion. Honestly I\’m a millennial and I haaate talking on the phone, but I make an exception for Harts, I\’m always happy to chat with them! Harts infomercial: done! Back to regularly scheduled programming.

Vogue 8964 is a very similar pattern with a lot of the same construction techniques as Carolyn. One thing I loved was the contrast piping application: it\’s only on the easy parts! You can see on the model that it is only on the center front and does not go all the way around the collar. I feel like it\’s kind of cheating but it is Vogue approved so I don\’t feel guilty! I used self fabric bias strips to do the little bit of piping on the top. There\’s no piping on the shorts at all, and I actually skipped the button fly, too (Alex\’s favorite MeUndies don\’t have a fly, so why bother), so these are basically sewing 101… very simple and a nice present! I made the 38 in both the top and shorts and ended up opening the shorts back up to add some bias at the side seams since they were too small. In the end I like the little added detail.

I always want to make more pajamas with all the cute cotton prints I find, but my pajama drawer is basically overflowing at this point. Perhaps it\’s time to purge all rtw pjs? How do you feel about handmade pjs? Worth it or no?

xoxo,