Christmas PJs

When Little Miss first joined our family, I really wanted to establish a few Christmas traditions of our own; something that we could do no matter where we were celebrating Christmas that year. We decided to have Christmas pjs every year and open them Christmas eve so the kids were wearing them for Christmas morning. It's hardly an original idea, but we almost always end up buying Christmas pajamas anyway, so why not make the tradition about them? This year, to go along with my crafty Christmas, I decided to make the kids' pjs.

I recently learned how to draft a pattern from an existing pair of pants, so I grabbed a pair of each kid's favorite pj pants and got to work on the patterns. For the top, I had a purchased pattern to follow. I got Little Man's pants done quickly, and cut out the pattern for the top in a size that both kids could wear, and started trying to piece it. For some reason, I tend to struggle with working with actual patterns, and this was no different. First of all, I realized after I started cutting that the shoulders were open, and supposed to have velcro to attach once on the child. I didn't have velcro on hand, but figured I could just put a couple snaps in with my snap pliers. I figured out placement and applied the snaps, but then when I went to sew the top together, the snap got caught on the presser foot, so I had to hand crank it through. Not the neatest job I've ever done! Then I had to take a quick crash course on setting in sleeves. Looking back, it wasn't too awful, but in the process I was ready to give up! As it is, I only finished the shirt for Little Man's pajamas, and we went shopping for a plain matching shirt for Little Miss.

And here are my two lovely models with their new pjs and our Christmas tree!