Pajama Shorts

About

You Will Need (2 things)

Steps (15 steps, 60 minutes)

1. 1

   Start by printing the pattern and cutting-taping together all the pattern pieces. You’ll need to attach the parts together to create two pattern pieces—a front and a back. Cut two of the front and two of the back. The front and back are different but can be easily confused so it helps to mark the cut pieces with a water soluble pen, etc.

2. 2

   Pin a front piece and a back piece together, WRONG sides facing, at the inseam (and stitch with a 1/4" seam allowance. (The black line in the photo indicate where the inseam seam is.)

3. 3

   Trim the seam allowance to 1/4". Press the inseam seam so the right sides are together, then stitch with a 3/8" seam allowance. This is how you do a French Seam.

   Repeat for the other front and back piece. You know basically have a right leg and a left leg.

4. 4

   Pin the left leg and the right leg together and do French seams (as explained earlier) along the long curve/center seam. It helps to notch the seam allowance after doing the first 3/8" seam, to ease the curve.

5. 5

   Open the shorts up so they look like a pair of shorts. With wrong sides touching, pin and stitch French seams up the side seams.

6. 6

   Now to do a 1" hem for the legs. With the PJ shorts upside down and inside out, mark and fold the edge down 1/2" and pin. Repeat for another 1/2".

7. 7

   Stitch 1/8" from the inside folded edge. Repeat these steps for the second leg.

8. 8

   Fold and pin the waistband 1". Repeat for another 1".

9. 9

   If you didn't mark the back when you cut the fabric, never fear, the back is the sides which are longer in width at the leg hems. So now at the back center waistband, place a pin as seen. This will help remind you where to stop when you're stitching.

10. 10

    Now I usually pin on my labels. I use cotton twill tape but you can use some ribbon. This is so you know which side is the back when putting them on. I didn't do this for the first pairs of PJ pants I made and I was always putting them on backwards. If you chose not to use a ribbon/twill tape tag in the back, you can stitch a button in the front center at the very end. Either way, the point is to leave a 2" opening so you can slip the elastic in later.

11. 11

    Now starting where you placed the ribbon/tag, stitch 1/8" from the inside folded edge. Be sure to back stitch when you start stitching so the threads don't pull loose later on.

    Stitch around the waistband, stopping when you get to that pin you placed earlier. Don't forget to back stitch when you finish, to secure the threads.

12. 12

    Now cut your elastic. For the size Small I cut a 26" piece, for the Medium a 29" piece and for the Large a 32" piece. But hey, these are your PJ shorts, why not customize? You can wrap the elastic comfortably around your waist (the PJ shorts have about a 9" rise) and add one inch for overlap.

    It's smart to mark the elastic as seen. It may come in handy later.

13. 13

    Now, with a safety pin attached to the end of the elastic, insert it in the opening you left earlier. Pull the elastic through until it comes out the other side. Don't let the other end of the elastic slip into the casing, make sure it still hangs out some.

14. 14

    Overlapping the elastic about 1"-1 1/2", and with the markings you made on the sandwiched together, pin or hold in place. Make sure the elastic isn't twisted anywhere along the waist. Stitch a rectangle with a X in it where the elastic overlaps.

15. 15

    Now you want to pull the elastic back up into the casing and pulling the fabric taught/flat stitch an 1/8" from the edge to close up the opening.