HSF: #2 UFO

It's Historical Sewing Fortnightly time again! This challenge was the UFO challenge. Alas, I had no historical UFOs so I chose one of the other options and made up an "unfinished idea" instead.

I had planned on making a vintage robe this fall and I'd even bought a pattern and fabric. Alas, when the vintage pattern came, it was missing a piece so I had to return it. :( I did have a 1930s style pj top pattern that I'd found free online a while ago so I snapped up a modern pj pattern for the bottoms and decided to finish my vintage lounge wear after all!

The Challenge: UFO (or UFI in my case.)

Fabric: 3 yds flannel backed satin ($5/yd)

Pattern: Butterick 3314 ($2) and Vera Venus Pattern 30s Style Pj Top (free)
Year: 1930s-ish

Notions: bias binding (stash), elastic (stash)

How historically accurate is it? Not really. The pants are modern but I did add some width to make them more 30s wide legged style. The blouse is 30s style but I'm not sure how accurate it is, not having made any 30s pjs before. So, we'll put it in the "inspired" category.
Hours to complete: 3 or so

First worn: January 27 to sleep in
Total cost: $17

Oh, these are so much more glamorous than my usual pjs!

***Edit*** So I slept in them last night and the armholes on the blouse are too small for sleeping! They were ok when I was just lounging around but I think I need to find some smaller bias binding so they'll be just a tad bigger.

Lounging Around

Yesterday I finished up these lovely Beach/Lounging Pyjamas!


Fabric: 4 yds floral print from stash ($6/yd I think...), 1/2 yd red shiney stuff, red ribbon salvaged from too small sweater
Pattern: Wearing History 3017
Year: 1930s
Notions: buttons ($3)
Time to complete: 6 hours (next go round should be much quicker!)
First worn: October 2011
Wear again? Yes!!!!! I'm so in love with this outfit! It's terribly fun to wear and super comfy. Much cuter than my normal pjs.

Total cost: ~$27

I had several hiccups while making this pattern that made for slow going. I didn't make a muslin and the hips hit in a different area than I thought they would. Now, my hips are 12" larger than my waist so I usually grade up several sizes in the hips. I actually made this up in size 18 which is for 1" smaller than my waist. It's a pretty loose garment and I did measure before cutting but I measured the wrong area for hips. I did end up removing 1" from the blouse portion and then it was a bit small for the pants portion. I made it work though! Next time I'll remove the length from the middle before I cut fabric.

Also, I discovered that there 4 buttons in the pattern design were not enough. So, I made a trip to Jo-Ann's for more buttons and I'm now up to 7. And, despite careful measuring, my waist ties were not level so I had to take one off and put it back on. And the fabric was slippery and required lots of pinning.

Ok, on to the things that went well.

I used French seams and bias binding so the inside is all pretty! I got my machine's button holes to look nice so no bound button holes! They are crazy fun to wear! And I've already bought some more material for a winter version as this one is a bit chilly with no sleeves.

And, lastly, tips for those of you who want to make this pattern.Do make it because it's crazy fun to wear!

• Watch the arm holes as they are kind of small.
• I made size 18 and squeezed it into 4 yds of 60" fabric though I think I'd get 4.5 yds in the future just to be safe.
• Add more buttons to the back.
• There are no illustrations in this pattern and they are not as detailed as modern directions. The sewing isn't too difficult but I wouldn't suggest this as a sewer's first vintage pattern.

I'm still on the fence about wearing this outside the house but my husband's response was "Those are pyjamas? It looks like a regular dress to me." so that's pretty encouraging.