Celia Pyjamas

Introducing the hack I never thought I'd make... pyjamas from the Celia Dress!

Sometimes when my creative vision just doesn't match the reality of a project, I find myself wanting to finish it despite knowing I won't wear it - it's hard to admit it when it happens! This is when it's time to think out of the box and flip a mistake into a make.

I was recently making a Celia Dress when I had one of these moments. The bright red piping and white linen started to resemble a nurses uniform and the image couldn't be shaken. Let's just say, hindsight is 20/20. But this is how I made a pair of Celia Dress-turned-pyjamas!

How to add pyjama piping:

Step 1: Make your piping! We chose to use a 2mm string and cut the piping fabric 3cm wide. Wrap the fabric so the string is in the centre and the using the zipper foot on your sewing machine, sew as close to the string as you can all the way down the length of the fabric. Once sewn, trim down the seam allowance to 0.5cm. (this is to match the collar seam allowance, the facing will be 1cm). We go into detail about making piping in our Day Tote Workshop.

Step 2: Once trimmed, pin the pipping to the right side of the fabric.

Step 3: Cut into the corner so the piping can follow round the corner as shown above.

Step 4: Sew at 0.5cm

Step 5: Attach the other side of the collar and sew the collar pieces together as normal.

Step 6: Turn the collar out and press. 

Step 7: Pin the piping to the top front in the same way as we did the collar. 

Step 8: Sew the piping with a 1cm seam allowance. When you reach the end, gently ease the end of the piping out toward the seam allowance. Sew the collar to the top as normal. 

Step 9: Attach the front facing with a 1cm seam allowance. 

Step 10: Turn the front facing out and press.

The top itself is the top half of the Celia Dress. I simply chopped off the top to a length that suited me and skipped sewing the side seam pockets altogether.

The shorts are made from the Sunday Trackies pattern which is a really easy way to make shorts. Since the pattern is for jersey, if you're making in a non-stretch fabric you need to choose a size that can go over your hips without stretching. This might mean sizing up and you may want to tighten the elastic for a snug fit.
 
The shorts have helped to make the perfect matching set, just in time for the festive season!

Fabrics Used:
 
Thank you to the Cloth House for gifting this beautiful linen! I'm so glad I was able to make the most use out of it and not let it go to waste by changing direction and using the skirt material for the shorts. This is their special house linen, which we will definitely use again in the future since it's the perfect weight for dresses (and pyjamas!). 
 
The red cotton was gifted by Raystitch, the perfect weight for delicate piping. And the 2mm piping string is from William Gee!