Pajama Pants (Pt. 1) ...

And hello everyone! Let's embark on a journey of fabric and warmth and...pants. But not just ordinary pants, oh no, pajama pants. The collegiate's best friend, the garment of choice as it were. And what better way to appreciate such a bond a perpetually fatigued student has with his pajama bottoms than make a pair.

First, buy 100% cotton fabric that is three yards in length from The Joann's (Joann Fabrics). When home, or at a laundromat, or even in a creek make sure to wash your fabric before you begin cutting. This is to make sure that you get all the chemicals used to treat the fabric off, but more importantly this insures that the fabric has gotten its preliminary shrink out of the way.

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The Joann's

When you are at The Joann's pick up the pattern you would like to use for your pajama pants, these patterns come in different sizes and IT DOES matter which one you choose. So measure your waist, and by waist I do not mean where you let your pants sag Guy In The Back - your true waist is just below the bellybutton.

FUN FACT: The bellybutton is clinically known as the umbilicus.

Now open up your pattern envelope. You will be inundated with all sorts of paper, do not panic this is perfectly normal everything will be just fine.

Because patterns usually come in packages, for example a pajama pants pattern will come with a shirt pattern or two, you will want to find the correct pattern pieces. These are well indicated.

Before you begin cutting out your pattern from the rest you may want to iron the paper to get out all of the creases and tiny wrinkles that are bound to be there. This is not necessary but might make your life easier down the road. Begin and complete the "laborious" task of cutting out your pattern along the thick black outlines (this project will include two leg pieces and an elastic band).

Iron out your fabric before you begin cutting.

The instructions for the pattern will indicate where along the fabric you should place your pattern pieces as to get the best possible use from the fabric.

Once your pattern pieces are set down in the correct way on your fabric cut out your pattern pieces. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE!! It has been provided for your in the patterns

Done?...

Good!

Before you do anything else you will want to finish off the edges of your fabric pieces. The best way to do this is to use an overlock stitch. You can do this by using a serger, a frightening looking machine but one that is easy to use.

Line up your fabric so that just a little bit is close to the blade, it will be cut and that is okay.

If you have finished that then you have completed part one and are fast on your way to making a pair of lazy pants, I mean pajama pants.

Tech Sleeve - All Together Now ...

Tech Sleeve

Materials needed:

gadget (preferably a square one)

fabric: Fleece

kraft paper

ruler

scissors

tracing tool

pinking sheers

hidden snap set

fashion button

Everything that has been covered thus far can be used to create a simple item. A tech sleeve. What is a tech sleeve you ask? This is simply a fleece cover to hold and protect what ever gadget you desire, I am of course talking about something simple like a phone or tablet or small laptop.

FUN FACT: Fleece is also known as 'Polar wool', 'Vega wool', or "Velo wool'. These names suggest an organic origin when in reality fleece is made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). In other words, synthetic fibers.

Ready to begin?
Once you have selected that gadget you will be using take measurements and be sure to right them down.
Take the measurements of the length and width of the gadget in inches.

Now get out a sheet of kraft paper and then measure out your device's lengths and widths AND add 1/2 inch on every length and width. When you are finished you will have an outline that is a 1/2 inch longer and a 1/2 inch wider than your gadget. NO seam allowance is added to your pattern!
Cut out your pattern.

You will now want to create a closure tab for your sleeve. On your kraft paper make a pattern that is 1 inch wide and 5 inch long.

Take your patterns over to your fabric and then trace them onto the fabric using a proper tracing tool. Trace your pattern once for your closure tab and twice for your sleeve. It will be best if you make sure to trace you patterns along the flow of the grain. To each outline add 1/2 in seam allowance with the aid of a ruler, you will not need to add seam allowance to the top of the sleeve. Cut out your outlines pieces - this is wear placing your pattern along the grain is helpful.
Trim the raw edges of your fabric pieces with pinking sheers. try to cut as little as you can and as uniformly as you can.

Attach the tab to one side of the sleeve using the sewing machine. Make sure that the side the tab is being sewn to is the right side of the fabric.

Now take your two pieces of fabric for the sleeve over to the machine and place the right sides of the fabric together so that the wrong sides are what is being seen. Sew along the line for seam allowance on three sides (the two sides and the bottom) and then use the bagging out method.

You can now finish the sleeve my hand sewing the snap set on and then the fashion button on top of your tab.

All done?
If so, place your gadget into it's new sleeve and admire your work.

It Seams To me ...

We've made it to seams! Let's dive right into it, shall we? Grab two pieces of muslin (or any fabric you want to use up) that are as close to the same dimensions as possible, for the point of this instruction you will most likely want to use pieces that are longer than they are wide.

To make things simpler, if you are using muslin, go ahead and mark on both pieces of muslin what side is going to represent the pattern side with squares or x's. This will be mentioned later as the "right" side
.
1. Plain Seam
Prepare your two pieces of fabric by marking on the "wrong" side (the side that does not have the patterns and where you will be stitching from) an inch from the side of the fabric along the whole length. This one inch is called your seam allowance- so you have room to adjust your seam if there needs to be a correction. You will stitch the seam on the lines you just marked.

Once both pieces of fabric are marked place them together so that the "wrong" sides are facing outward. Meaning, that the pattern sides of the two pieces of fabric with will facing eachother. Pin along the marked lines on the fabric so your pieces will stay in place.

Now that you are at your machine make sure there is no width to your stitching and that the length is about an average well, length (around a 2.5 or 3 on a Bernina). When pushing your fabric threw the machine do not forget to back stitch to lock them in. Then cut your tails for cosmetic reasons and then take your seamed fabric to the ironing station/board.

Lay out your fabric so that the patterned sides are facing down on the board and spread your seam allowance down. Steam them out.

2. Curved Seam
Instead of drawing a straight line down the length of the fabric you will create a half circle that is "cut off" on the length of the fabric. To recreate this exact half circle on your second piece of fabric you will need to use waxing paper (not plain old wax paper, the kind that is used for marking) and place the paper between your pieces of fabric. Then use a tracing wheel to have the wax stick to the second piece of fabric.

Once you have an accurate trace if your half circle place them back to back as before with the plain seam so that the pattern sides are facing eachother. Make sure to mark one inch out from your marked circle and then cut along that line that has marked your seam allowance. Pin along your marked lines so your fabric will stay in place and so you will have a more accurate stitchline

When you are at your machine set it so you will have z-g-zag stitching and sew along your marked line (all the while taking your pins out, of course).

After you have back stitched and cut off your tails head over to the ironing station/board. Flip out your fabric so your pattern side is facing outward and then steam your fabric.

Gathering ...

Do you want to know how to make ruffles in fabric? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be looking at this bloody blog! The process is simpler than you would think and you can start by grabbing a piece of muslin (or other scrap of fabric you don't mind using up) and heading over to your sewing machine.

Fun Fact: Did you know that in costume shops and studios a garment's maker will often use muslin to make pieces of a garment or even a whole garment before cutting the intended fabric? This is to test the fit of the garment, so instead of using the more expensive materials on what might not be the right fit muslin is used as an inexpensive test garment.

1. Using a straight stitch 
Making sure your machine is threaded and ready for use ...
"But how do I know my machine is ready? And I don't know how to thread a sewing machine!" Oh, look, it's The Guy In The Back who's now pretending feigned interest after last week's post on Industrial Iron's got him all hot and bothered. Don't worry Guy In The Back and new readers, you can learn all about how to thread a sewing machine in last week's posts.

Now that your machine is good and threaded and your muslin is placed under the presser foot take a look at your dials or knobs on your machine. Make sure that you have no width to your stitches, as this will create a zig-zag and you will not be able to do what I am showing you resulting in tears by all. Next, you'll want to adjust your stitch length and make it the longest you can - this will make the process easier later on.

Now sew a straight line down the length of your muslin scrap without any back stitching. I repeat, NO BACK STITCHING: this will make the rest of the process impossible which will go a head and assume will make you mad, hulk out, and then throw your machine out the window.

After you've sewn your line of stitching leave your self some tails on the ends of your fabric, you'll cut them later but you'll need them now.

take hold of your bottom thread and gently slide your fabric away from the end you are holding the thread.

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It's that simple!

You have now successfully learned how to gather on a straight stitch. What, I told you it would be easy.

After you've gather the appropriate amount of fabric you need cut the tails of your threads or cosmetic reasons.

2. Using a Zig-Zag over a hymark
To gather using a zig-zag stitch  you'll need to proceed just as before only this time you'll begin your straight stitch with hymark thread (a heavy cord-like thread).

Instead of gathering after you've completed your straight stitch you're going to march right back to the machine and use standard thread for your zig-zag stitching. make sure your stitch length is set to the widest possible so you can have a wide zig-zag. Thread all the way down and over your hymark stitching and you will, again, leave a tail.

As before you'll pull on the hymark bottom thread and begin to gather.

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It really is that simple...

Now, go gather to your hearts content.
Not you, Guy In The Back...I'll see you after class.