Sew Pajamas

Make cotton PJ pants with cuffs

Hey y’all, it’s that time of year again, when I sew pajamas for all the cousins. And since we added a cousin this year, it was 5 sets to sew. Luckily the newest cousin is stinking adorable!

This year I used prints from the Neverland collection that Riley Blake kindly sent to me. I just love using quilting collections for groups like this – the coordinating is already done for me, I just mix and match depending on the kids’ preferences.

So here are the fabrics I used, from uppermost pair of pants to the baby pair in the image below.

Pants: Neverland Main Blue, Contrast: Neverland Lantern Cream
Pants: Neverland Lantern Blue, Contrast: Neverland Island Cream
Pants: Neverland Island Mint, Contrast: Neverland Pixie Dust Blue
Pants: Neverland Star Flower Pink, Contrast: Neverland Pixie Dust Mint
Pants: Neverland Star Flower Periwinkle, Contrast: Neverland Pixie Dust Pink

Of course when you get a crew together to take pictures, you get a lot of photos like this one.

But thank goodness for digital cameras so that you can take 171 pictures to get the 5 good ones, lol!

To make the pajama pants, follow the instructions below.

Note: The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has strict requirements for children’s pajamas (and other children’s clothing), and these do not meet their requirements. I am fine with them for my own kids, but it would be against their regulations to sell these pairs. So if you’re an Etsy shop owner or planning to make pajamas for sale, make sure you read up on their requirements and keep yourself out of trouble. 

Don’t feel like making a pattern? You can buy PJ patterns from my shop – and they comes with the tops as well as the bottoms. The pattern the kids are wearing is my Snuggle Pajamas and it includes sizes 3m-12y. For adults, you can use the Peppermint PJs and sew up the bottoms the same way.

Make your pattern

In order to make these pants, you’ll need three measurements from your child – their hip, rise and inseam length. Don’t know how to measure your kid? Watch this video. 

To get the rise length, the easiest way is to measure a pair of pants that your child owns. Fold them in half, then measure from the point of the crotch straight up to a line level with the waist.

To draft your pants, you’ll need to do a little math. First, take your child’s hip measurement and divide it by 2. Then add 5 inches. Call this number A.

Next, add the rise plus the inseam. Call this number B.

Draw a rectangle that is A wide by B tall.

Draw a line across the rectangle between the inseam and rise lengths.

Bring the sides of the rectangle in as shown at the rise line. The 1″ side is the front of the pants, the 2″ side is the back.

Curve the corners to create the crotch lines.

At the front edge, drop the line 2 inches and redraw it – this way the waist will cover your kid’s booty but not come up uncomfortably high in the front.

Bring the bottom corners of each pants leg in 1 1/2″.

Measure the waistline – you’ll need that measurement to create the waistband.

If you want cuffs, trace out a rectangle that covers the part of the pants you want to be the cuff. Don’t follow the angle of the pants leg at the bottom; keep your rectangle with 90 degree corners. Cut off your pants pattern at this line, separating the pants and the cuff.

Add seam allowances all around the pants piece.

The waistband will be cut on the fold, so add a seam allowance to the top and side edge, then double this rectangle in height for the final waistband piece (because it will be folded in half to form the casing).

OK, to sew your pants watch the video below or you can watch it on YouTube here if you prefer. If you prefer written instructions, please visit this post.

To complete the sets, I also sewed up envelope neck T-shirts. If you want a video and tutorial on how these are sewn, check this post.