Harriet’s Fifi Pyjamas

So, when this month’s very cute Parisian cotton poplin arrived, I got very excited about making myself a pair of pyjamas to wear this Spring and Summer.

I only have full length pyjama bottoms and cosy jersey tops in my nightwear drawer, and always find myself waking up quite gross and sweaty (too much information?) if I wear these during the Summer – so I was very pleased to have been able to find myself very organised when this fabric arrived and I could get started on a shorts and cami set, which I really do think this fabric lends itself to perfectly.

Rather than doing a mix and match situation of different patterns in my stash, I decided just to give in and use another Tilly and the Buttons pattern. I do hope that you don’t mind, but realistically the majority of my pattern stash is made up of Sew Over It and Tilly and the Buttons! I am trying hard to branch out more, though, so I promise that there will be far more variety in the future. Unless a fabric arrives that simply must be used with one of their patterns, but I’m just making excuses and getting off topic now. Back to the pyjamas.

I chose to make the set using the Fifi pattern from Tilly and the Buttons – which is one of theirs I hadn’t used before and so was a very exciting venture! I hadn’t realised that every part of the camisole is cut on the bias, which means that the set actually did require almost all of the fabric sent in this month’s box – I was expecting to have loads left over! The cotton poplin is lightweight enough for the pattern, but doesn’t come with the challenge that I see in a lot of the drapier fabrics that I use – fraying. The instructions do recommend using French seams, and include a detailed guide on how to do these, but I thought that plain overlocked seams might work better for this version, because I was a bit worried that French seams would end up being too bulky. I don’t think that overlocking the seams instead has affected the finished look of the garment at all, so as long as there’s no need to do a French seam (you’d usually do them for fabrics that fray particularly badly, or are very lightweight), then I wouldn’t see any reason why you shouldn’t finish them in whichever way you fancy.

The binding around the neckline of the camisole was probably my favourite part of the whole project – who would’ve thought that I’d ever enjoy doing bias binding!? I used a shop-bought binding rather than making it out of the self fabric, mainly because I was feeling a little bit lazy but also because I had the perfect roll in my stash for the project. I’m very guilty of buying pretty bias binding, and always feel a little bit sad when some of the more splendid ones in my stash can’t be seen on the outside of the garment. So when I saw that the binding was a visible element for this project, I was pretty chuffed!

The shorts are much quicker to construct than the cami, and I was very tempted to head out and get a length of pompom trim to put around the hem

I’m really pleased with the overall outcome, and within a day had cut out and completed a nice new pyjama set; it’s just a shame that the snow this weekend has meant they’ve been sent straight to the bottom of my PJ drawer! I can’t wait for the warmer months though, when I’ll be able to dig them out and lounge in luxury.