When It Hits The Fan: Making Poo Pajamas

It's been one of those weeks around here.  We're into week 6 of a disruptive and seemingly never-ending bathroom remodel, plus a furnace break down, that's been followed by a cracked kitchen drain pipe in the wall 48hrs later. Such fun. It's a time when this sort of thing is what you want to wear everyday:

That's right folks, these are Poo Pajamas:

My daughter is trying to capture the main poo's pose in this one:

When I saw this fabric as a custom fabric group pre-order (shout-out to Bebe Flow!), I was ALL ABOUT IT. Funny, irreverent and just plain accurate to life lately.  I ordered several yards and the main poo panel piece.  Custom knits aren't cheap, but I didn't care.  I didn't know what exactly I'd make, but I knew I needed it.  Still a recovering fabric hoarder, remember?  As you can see, it covers all the bases of when things hit the fan:

Once it arrived, I thought about the best way to showcase it's cheeky charm and loungewear sounded ideal.  Plus, it was a great way to do yet another look with my new favorite DIY pattern.     

Here's how I made them....

I used my handy, made-myself, Lots of Looks For Knits Pattern as my base to cut my front, back and sleeves (the details on how to make the pattern are HERE).  The front piece of my pj top was a small rectangular panel, which would have been a little too short on its own, so adding an extra wide hem band was my solution. 

I also cut neck binding, the band for the waist hem and sleeve + pant cuffs from a solid pink knit left from a previous project. It was the perfect shade to coordinate with the pink in my poo print.  I measured the neck hole, which was 16 inches, and then cut a strip of rib knit that was an inch narrower and 2 inches high.  The cuffs and band were each 2 inches narrower than their corresponding poo-pieces and 5 inches high. 

I stitched the short ends of the neck binding together (right sides facing), then, centering the seam on the center back of the top, I pinned the neckband along the neck hole with right sides facing.  I sewed them together with a 5/8 seam allowance, triple stitch, as usual with my knits.

I pressed the binding up and over around to the wrong side of the top and pinned.  Then I topstitched it in place:

I stitched the sleeves to the arm area of the top matching up the sleeve's top center with the shoulder seam and trimmed down the raw edges.

Then I pinned the sides together and stitched down from sleeve edge down to hem. 

For the cuffs, I folded each one width-wise, right ends facing, and stitched down the side.  I like to trim down my seams with pinking shears to reduce bulk.

Then I opened them up and folded each with wrong sides together.  Since the cuff is smaller so that the sleeve will have some gather, I matching seams and marked both my sleeve and the cuffs into quarters.

I then pinned the raw edges along the raw edge of the sleeve edge of the top.  I stitched them together by pulling the cuff to stretch to the length of the sleeve fabric.

I did the same deal on the waist band:

For the bottoms I used the legging pant pattern of Simplicity 1511.  I added a cuff to the bottoms just like the top and bam! We had some poo-tastic pajamas.

As soon as the pjs were done, my daughter was begging to put them on.  I've never seen anyone so excited to be covered in poo;)  These have become her all-time favorite pajamas and are constantly in use.  The poo print has some serious charm.  I'm really eager to get a little extra time to make myself a pair too!  $#it happens...at least wearing these brings a smile to the situation;)