Pyjama time: episode two

Ever since I first saw Jalie 3244, I'd always wondered about a footed, onesie pyjama pattern that could fit the whole family and what kind of nutjob family would ever want to buy such a pattern.

Of course I bought it, but only because I had an awesome idea for costumes for the whole family for Melburn Roobaix. (Which is, sadly, corona-cancelled for this year.)

The kids loved the idea of onesies as pyjamas so out came the pattern anyway. I traced off just the one size, size O (and not one for Flipper or myself, so you can give up on the blog post now if you like!)

Both kids are roughly the same size in every regard except height and limb length.

Hers is a straight size O with no modifications to size and it's great. Not ridiculously oversized but I can see it should get a few seasons of growth, especially if her limbs start to catch up with her torso length.

His is size O but with length to sleeves, torso and legs. Of course I should have thought that by adding torso length I would maybe not need to add so much leg length, but I just went with exactly the discrepancy between his measurements and the size O measurement chart.

So, for my records, that was: 8cm torso length to front and back (his torso loop length was 15cm> pattern). 8cm leg length and 10cm sleeve length.
It's super baggy in crotch and leg length with a good arm length, but I bet that's what he outgrows first!

For each onesie I needed 1.5m of fabric, assuming it was around 150cm wide. I was keen to use a cotton lycra (95% cotton, 5% spandex) but didn't have any cuts that big in my stash. So I went online shopping.

All the really cool euro knits would have been great, but I was being too tight to fork out more than $50 in fabric costs alone for each onesie.... I ended up buying both fabrics at a much more agreeable price from Lush Fabrics.

This one feels fairly nice, not awesome, but fairly nice. It has good recovery, but I don't think it's cotton at all. I suspect it fell into the cotton knits category because the rabbit character gives the fabric the name "cotton tail" and that might be what tricks the store category search? I dunno, maybe it is a cotton lycra... Edit: listing says it is: cotton-tail-in-blue

The print is really sweet.

P's fabric on the other hand is not so nice at all. It has a hard hand, this weird, slubby texture, very little recovery and the print opens up to the background fabric when stretched. We both agreed we really liked the colour and the print and since we had it we might as well sew it up. He's been wearing it every night it's not been in the wash so it's not like it's terrible. Yet it was a bit disappointing. I always prefer to feel knits before buying, and I think if the price is below $30/m I might need to stick to that rule!

We hunted through the ribbings stash and found some that matched nicely. Red and grey were their choices and lo and behold, the stash delivered.

What I didn't have, and wasn't prepared to buy, were zippers. I also figured that a long zip might bend and buckle weirdly when you're sleeping. Instead I fashioned a little button placket and used snaps with my big bench mounted snap press. I don't mind sewing in a zipper but this is definitely quicker and easier.

The kids are delighted with them and have now declared they want another one each, but this time with the feet sewn in option.

When I cut and sew those, I'll upload some more details about the placket variation and how to sew it in.

Meanwhile I think that's it. Except for all the outtakes. :)

Details:
Pattern: Jalie 3244
Fabrics: Cotton lycra (hmmm) from Lush Fabrics
Size: O with length mods for him
Modifications: 2cm wide button placket instead of zip.