Operation Pajama Drawer: Appliqued Big Kid Tanks
Oh, my! I had so much fun with these! I started with my free The Tank pattern, but since it only goes to size 5, I had to grade it up a bit to Jamie’s size 8. (Would anyone else like to have this pattern in Big Kid Sizes?) Once I had the pattern ready, I dug coordinating knit fabrics out of my stash, and then the fun part started — designing appliques to match the fabrics in the pants that I made a few weeks ago! I like the way that these came out so much, I’m a little sad that they’re pajamas!
These raw-edge appliques are really quick and simple to do. You just press Wonder Under or Heat N Bond Lite onto the back of your fabric, draw or trace your design on the back, cut it out, peal off the backing and press your applique to the clothing (or pattern piece). You can use a zig-zag stitch around the edges, but for these, I just used a regular stitch about 1/8″ to 1/4″ inside the edge. This way, those edges will fray a bit in the wash for a fun, casual, modern look.
Here are all of the tops with their coordinating Pajama Party PJ pants:
Since these all fit the same, I let Jamie choose which set he would model for me, and he was quick to yell, “FOOTBALL!!” 
Like I did for Charlie, I added a tiny bit of extra length to these pants so that Jamie has some growing room. (Why do kids always seem to grow up way faster than they grow out?!)
Taking pictures of Jamie is so much easier than taking pictures of Charlie.
He’s so much more mature, and silliness is really just not a problem.
Nope, no silliness here at all.
So, how’s your Operation Pajama Drawer sewing coming along? Friday is the last day to load your pictures to the Fishsticks Designs Flickr Group for a chance to win a $35 gift card to Simplifi Fabric!
Operation Pajama Drawer: Wee Tot PJs & More Prep Work
Eek! There’s only a week left in the month, and I have lots more pajama sewing to do! I did get a Wee Tot Collection PJ set finished for Charlie yesterday, though, and all of the rest of the pajamas are cut out and ready to sew.
There’s one more knit set of PJs — Runaround Pants and a Patrick Raglan.
There’s a pile of pieces to make the five tops to go with Jamie’s jammie pants from last week.
And, last but far from least, Charlie’s and Jamie’s long-awaited Star Wars Pajama Party PJs are finally progressing.
The Wee Tot Set that Charlie is wearing above is sewn from Lillestoff Under Construction organic cotton jersey and solid turquoise interlock. I used the size 5 laptee and pants, but I added a bit of length to the shirt and doubled the width of the legbands so that I could fold them up for a little extra growing room!
New pajamas on — check! Camera in mom’s hand — check! Lollipop bribery ready and waiting — check! Commence silliness!
Around the Block with Patchwork Posse: Block #3
So, I took a little bit of creative liberty with this week’s Around the Block Round Robin block. This week’s “Flower Applique” block was designed by Kim from Kimberbell Designs. It’s a great one to try out if you’ve never done fusible applique! I used her flower applique design, but rather than add the yo-yo to the center when the quilt is done later, I made up a smaller circle applique. Once I had those two pieces cut out, though, I realized that there was plenty of room for a second flower, and I loved the idea of layering them to add a little dimension, especially since I skipped the yo-yo. I just ironed and stitched the bottom flower first, followed by its circle and then the second flower and circle.
This whole block went together in less than an hour! Woo-hoo for quick and pretty!
Operation Pajama Drawer: Pajama Party PJ Pants in a Jiffy
When you’re trying to fill up a pajama drawer quickly, sometimes you just need a quick, easy and straightforward pair of PJ pants! (I’ll be honest and say that I almost always sew our woven pajama pants using this method.) To get started, you just need to print the pants from the Pajama Party PJs pattern, then assemble and cut out the pattern pieces, except for the pocket. We’ll be skipping the side seam pocket on these to make them up fast.
Now grab a ruler and a pencil. Because the seam allowance is 1/2″, you’re going to be overlapping your two pattern pieces 1″ total. Use your ruler and pencil to draw a straight line 1″ from the straight side of either pattern piece.
Line the straight side of your second pattern piece up with the line that you just drew and tape the pieces together. (You may have a tiny little piece that pokes out the top, just trim that away so that you have a nice even angle.) Now you have a one-piece pants pattern.
Use this one-piece pattern to cut the pieces from your fabric, being sure to cut one, then one reversed (so that you have a left and a right leg).
Fold each piece over to match up their inseams and just follow the pattern instructions from there!
Here are a few other little tips for sewing pajama pants quickly. First, if you have multiples to sew, cut them all out at the same time. I’ve found that assembly line sewing is way faster than doing one piece at a time. My only little caveat here is, “Don’t cut out multiples if you’re using a pattern that you’ve never sewn before!” Please, always cut and sew and test the finished sizing once before cutting out a pile of anything. 
Lastly, just use white thread. Especially if you’re sewing more than one pair of pants, changing thread colors will slow you way down! If you’re picky, then choose fabrics that will work nicely with white. Once your elastic is in the waist and the waistband gathers up, though, it’s not likely that you’re even going to notice the color of the thread.
As a total random aside, I named this blog post because my granny used to always say that she was going to do something “in a jiffy”. She just meant that it was going to get done quickly. I started wondering though what that means exactly, and apparently it is an actual measurement with different meanings in computing, astrophysics and quantum physics. In computing, a jiffy is the duration of one tick of the system timer interrupt. Typically, this time is 0.01 seconds. (Source.) Sewing pajama pants this way is fast, but not that fast!
Operation Pajama Drawer: Pajama Pants A-Plenty
How’s your Operation Pajama Drawer sewing coming along? Since this past weekend was a three-day one for us, I thought I’d go ahead and get Jamie’s pile of pajama pants all done! We ended up doing so many projects around the house, though, I barely had time to squeeze in an hour of sewing time a day. It’s a good thing that these sew up quickly. (Tomorrow, I’m going to share a quick little tutorial for how I make PJ Pants in a Jiffy using a slightly modified version of the Pajama Party PJ Pants pattern.)
The photo below is my big pile of PJ pants pieces on Friday evening. The photo above is what the pants looked like when I went to bed last night — just waiting patiently for their elastic and cuffs.
I was able to wrap them up in no time this morning, and now Jamie has five new pairs of jammie pants. (Why, yes. Yes, I did notice that the mustaches are upside down, but not until I was pulling the elastic through its channel. At least I was consistent and cut all of the mustaches upside down in the same manner.) No modeling shots of these because Jamie announced as I was wrapping them up that he’d really like to have shirts to go with them . . . hmmmm . . . I can do that. Who needs to sleep when there’s sewing to be done.
Happy Valentine’s Day Flash Sale!
Happy Valentine’s Day! My customers are such a joy to me everyday. Today, I’d like to celebrate you! Use the code BEMINE all day today to take 35% off of all orders of both paper and PDF patterns in my main pattern store: Fishsticks Designs Patterns and my Etsy store: Fishsticks @ Etsy! (The code is set to expire at midnight eastern.)
I hope you all have a fabulous day filled with love!
Around the Block with Patchwork Posse: Block #2
Moving along to Block #2 in the Around the Block Round Robin. This Delectable Mountain block was designed by Becky from The Patchwork Posse.
Man, I am learning so much already. For instance, today’s lesson was, “Read the directions”. This was probably payback for every time someone has emailed me with a pattern question, and I momentarily considered responding, “Read the directions!” (Of course, you know I’d never actually do that! I understand that we all learn in different ways, and I enjoy answering your questions.) When reading through the block instructions, I totally missed that when the half square triangles are placed on top of each other to cut them, they are supposed to be right sides together. I spent well over an hour trying to figure out how in the world these strips — the ones that I had cut incorrectly — were supposed to be pieced to form the mountain. It made my brain hurt. Not only that, but I totally emailed Becky to say that I was sure there must be a mistake in the tutorial. Oops! Finally, I searched Pinterest, found a video tutorial for a similar block and saw that the blocks were supposed to be right sides together when they were cut. Problem solved. Apology email sent. Block started all over again!
This is one that I’m really glad to have finished! My 16-year-old kept walking into the room while I was sewing and telling me that it did not look like a mountain. When I was finished and showed it to her, though, she said, “Cool! It looks like a mountain and its reflection!”
Operation Pajama Drawer: Firefighter Lazy Days
I should subtitle this post, “Four-year-olds do not stand still.” Or rather, “Three-year-olds do not stand still on the eve of their fourth birthdays because they’re overflowing with excitement.” This little guy cracks me up, and I can’t believe he’s four years old already! His new size 5T Lazy Days Lounge Set is sewn with organic cotton Lillestoff stretch jersey from Simplifi Fabrics and organic cotton interlock trim from Organic Cotton Plus. I did add about 1/2″ in length to the top and the pants since Charlie is really tall, and I’m hoping these will fit for a while.
I’m going to keep this post short and let these silly pictures do the talking! (I have birthday baking and shopping to do! Charlie has requested a brownie cake with chocolate frosting and “red guys”. The cake I can handle. As for the red guys, I’m hoping Target has some good choices!)
Oh, wait! One more thing . . . it’s noon now, and he’s refusing to take off his new jammies. I think that means he likes them!
Operation Pajama Drawer: Getting Started on Lazy Days for Charlie
Operation Pajama Drawer is finally underway! Have you started cutting anything out yet? Tomorrow is my Charlie’s 4th birthday, so my first PJ project this month is for him. I’m pairing up the Lillestoff firefighter print with solid gold cotton interlock for a Lazy Days Lounge Set.
I cut out a size 5T for him last night after dinner. Now that he’s at the top end of the range of sizes in this pattern, I really want to extend it all the way up to size 12! My boys love this pattern, and I love sewing it. I cut the main parts of this pair out of one fabric, but one of my favorite things about this pattern is that you can use up your scraps for that top crossover part. You could even mix and match fabrics for the the two cross-over pieces and the bottom part of the shirt front . . . hmmmm . . . I might have to try that! As long as things go as planned, I’ll be sewing these up later today, so Charlie can sleep in them tonight!
Operation Pajama Drawer: Details for Sewing Along
Wheee! I’m so excited that so many of you are ready to join with me in sewing PJs for your little ones during the month of February! I will be so glad to have my two little guys’ pajama drawers packed full, and sewing will be so much more fun with you sewing along. (If you missed the Operation Pajama Drawer intro post, you can find it right here: Operation Pajama Drawer.)
How do you join in? Just grab any Fishsticks Designs pattern and sew a pair of pajamas this month. Once you’re done, be sure to post a finished picture in the Fishsticks Designs Flickr Group so that we can all admire your work, and so that you’ll be eligible to win a great prize! Everyone who shares a picture of a pair of Fishsticks Designs pajamas finished this month will be entered into a random drawing to be done on March 1st.
What’s the prize, you ask? The amazing folks at Simplifi Fabrics have offered a $35 gift certificate for the winner of the drawing! Simplifi Fabrics specializes in modern, eco-friendly fabrics and notions, and their selection is incredible! You’ll find all the information that you could possibly need about organic textiles on their site, and because they’re located in Canada near the US border, shipping to both the US and Canada is a breeze!
But that’s not all! Just in case you need a Fishsticks Designs pajama pattern to sew, I’ve put all of the PDF pajama patterns in my main store on sale for $6 each through Sunday night SALE EXTENDED THROUGH MONDAY, 2/10 AT 8 P. M.: the Pajama Party PJs, the Lazy Days Lounge Set, the Wee Tot Collection and the Little One Layette. (Just add the pattern to your cart to see the sale price.) You don’t have to use a pajama pattern to enter, though. Feel free to use any of my patterns (the Charlie Tee & AJ Bottoms, maybe?) or tutorials (perhaps The Tank and the Comfy Pants), even my published and charity patterns are eligible (check out the Comfy Sleep Set and the Watered with Love Layette).
I’ll be sharing my progress along the way, and you can share yours, too! Come join us in the Fishsticks Designs Sewing Group where you can chat, ask questions, share pictures and maybe even make some new friends: Fishsticks Designs Sewing Group.
