Adding footies to pajamas

A last minute tutorial, for anyone who plans to spend part of Christmas Eve sewing (like I often do).

Is there anything cuter than a toddler in footy pajamas? I don’t think so. And if you have a toddler that won’t stay under a blanket and likes to pull his socks off, they’re not only cute, they’re very practical for keeping adorable tootsies warm.

However, we had 2 problems with footy pajamas that I needed to solve.
1) We are potty training Bean, and have no time to waste with traditional one-piece footy pajamas.
2) There are no matching footy pajamas that I can buy for the Christmas pajamas I made Tater. And matching pajamas are a must for Christmas morning pics in our house.

So, I give you the footy pajamas tutorial – these are meant to be added to the bottom of regular elastic waist pajama pants, the kind that can be sewn very quickly and made for Christmas Eve. The kind like this tutorial from Made, or this tutorial from My Cotton Creations. You do need to make sure that whatever pants you’re adding these to go all the way to the bottom of your kid’s heel in length.

First, you need your kid’s shoe. Trace it onto some paper.

~~Add a seam allowance around the tracing.~~ Don’t add a seam allowance. I’ve made several more pairs of these and the shoe shape itself is enough of a seam allowance bigger than my kids’ feet.

I cut out two feet from flannel and two from fleece for the insides.

To make sure Bean didn’t slip and fall while running and wearing these, I used fabric paint on the soles. You could also buy non-slip fabric for the soles.

I just squiggled it on and let it dry.

These are the two pieces for the top of the foot. The toe piece is equal to the foot piece folded in half long ways, plus seam allowance (do add this one). The flare on the sides is about 1/2″ on each side. On the cuff, the center is equal to the top of the toe piece, and the two sides are each equal to 1/2 of the back circumference of the foot (fold foot in half long ways, measure around curve) plus a seam allowance. The cuffs are 3 inches wide. I kind of eyeballed the angle on the cuffs.

Once you sew the cuff to the toe, sew up the back seam of the cuff, so you’re pieces look like this.

Now take that piece and turn it right side out, and turn your pajamas inside out. Stuff the foot into the leg, making sure the center back seam of the cuff is lined up with the center back of the leg. Pin and sew around. If the cuff is a little larger than the leg or vice versa, don’t sweat it. Add tiny gathers or pleats – they won’t show after the elastic is added in.

VERY IMPORTANT- sew this part with a large seam allowance – I used 3/4″- and don’t serge it. This will be used to make the elastic casings, so you want enough fabric.

Now turn the seam allowance up, and carefully sew it down, leaving at least 1 inch open, to make an elastic casing. Run elastic through the casing and sew it shut.

Now here we’re going to run into a little “do as I say, not as I show”. You see, I actually sewed the foot bottoms on mine 3 steps ago. But I didn’t tell you, because I realized (too late) what a colossal pain in the patootie it was to not have the bottoms open when you’re sewing the cuffs to the legs. So your feet should be attached at the cuffs right now, not free floating like in my picture below. But, follow the same principle to baste the fleece to the wrong side of the foot piece, then pin and sew the whole thing to the bottom of the foot piece that is attached to your pajama leg.

And now turn those puppies right side out, and warm some toddler tootsies with them!

For the pajama top, I made a Raglan Sleeve T-shirt with long sleeves, and appliqued a couple of the penguins from the flannel on the front.

Merry Christmas!

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Comments

Katy Cameron says:

December 24, 2011 at 11:23 pm

Aww, very cute! Merry Christmas to you all )

Falafel and the Bee says:

December 25, 2011 at 3:44 am

Brilliant! I so want to try this!
~Michelle
http://www.falafelandthebee.com

Ashley says:

December 27, 2011 at 6:48 am

Sooo cute! I’ll have to make some of these for my little guy, thanks for sharing!!!

Seamingly Smitten says:

December 27, 2011 at 3:12 pm

Love it! Footy pajamas are so precious!! I’ve never thought about making them. Thanks for the tutorial!
Jenny
Seamingly Smitten

Ruby Jean says:

December 27, 2011 at 5:40 pm

CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!! you did a Great job on these… be sure to stop in and share them here http://shoprubyjean.com/2011/12/sew-crafty-tuesday-linky-3-and-features/

Emily says:

December 29, 2011 at 5:28 am

So cute and super smart. I agree with the one pieces being hard with potty training, which I hope is going well for you.

Lindsi B says:

December 29, 2011 at 8:03 pm

Oh my cuteness!!! Added this to my sewing projects for 2012! Would you please share these with our readers for Fun Stuff Fridays? http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2011/12/fun-stuff-fridays-4-3-weeks-long-for.html

Lynne says:

January 2, 2012 at 1:15 am

Those are the cutest pj’s ever! What a great idea! Thanks for the tutorial!

Jill says:

January 3, 2012 at 4:07 pm

I LOVE this idea! My little girl isn’t potty training yet, but I’m saving this for when she is! (And the pjs are just super-cute, too!)
–Jill
from Jill Made It

Max says:

January 3, 2012 at 11:10 pm

Very clever! Thank you so much. The penguin fabric is adorable :B

youandmie says:

January 11, 2012 at 2:30 am

What a great idea!! Thank you for sharing this, I’ll definitely pin this one for later

Papgena Made It says:

January 12, 2012 at 9:12 am

I saw you on Craft Gossip! Very clever! Thanks for sharing it!! I’ll save it for future use!
Hope you and your family have an wonderful 2012!!

abbeydabbles says:

October 23, 2012 at 6:56 pm

Love this! Have to try it out for my new nephew!

Emilia says:

November 6, 2012 at 5:10 am

how have i missed this!!! kid number three on the way, and the others are 2 and four so lots of footie love at our house!!

Adding footies to pajamas

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