Fremantle Pajama Pants

Pattern/Technique: Fremantle Pants by Elbe Textiles, size I

Modifications: Didn’t cut back pockets or front pocket cutouts (pocket fabric matches main fabric). Used a 5.5 mm buttonhole to thread through the drawstrings.

Materials: 2.375 yds (45” wide) grey sushi flannel (cotton) purchased from Joann Fabrics. 3/8” cotton twill tape for drawstring. 2x 1” square pieces of fusible interfacing to reinforce buttonholes.

New skills: manual buttonholes

Lessons: When sewing buttonholes, do the following:

• Always do a test run. It’s worth rereading the manual on how to advance each section of the buttonhole

• Use foot 5M (on my Pfaff machine), with metering set to 60, and presser foot pressure to 1 click above default

• I found it useful to “help” the fabric along a bit on the 2nd bartack because the feed dogs advance slightly less in reverse (the 2nd bartack has noticeably denser stitches vs the first). I think this was because my practice run was done on quilting cotton instead of the flannel I used for my main fabric. If I had used the same fabric for the trial & “real” buttonholes this compensation would have been already done by setting the buttonhole length.

What I'd do differently: I reused exactly the same elastic that I’d used in my first (failed) set of Fremantle pants, and topstitching it with a straight stitch definitely stretched it out a bunch. Next time I’ll cinch up the elastic a bit and use a zig zag stitch for topstitching.

I really like the leg taper on these, but the midrise is lower than my preference for pants. I’ll definitely use these as PJs but I don’t think the Fremantles will be my go-to for everyday pants (highwaisted for life!)

The twill tape I used for the drawstring is way too thin and curled up along one edge. I’ll replace it with something thicker salvaged from some old PJ pants.

Care: Machine wash, dry low.

Indigo Eye Pillow

Pattern/Technique: Good Vibrations Eye Pillow by Kristine Vejar, from Making: Intricate

Modifications: I found the silk pretty tricky to hand sew (it’s partly why I also sewed fewer lines on the pillowcase), so instead of hemming the open end by hand sewing, I used the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine.

Materials: Good vibrations eye pillow kit (indigo dyed silk crepe de chine, cotton muslin, indigo dyed embroidery floss), rice

Lessons: The silk was pretty tricky to sew through with multiple strands of embroidery floss, so I ended up stitching only a couple rows of running stitch. If I did something similar in the future, I might try using my sashiko thimble to brace the needle on my palm for support.

Remember to account for seam allowances when sewing a design. I sewed a neat “reflection” motif where the running stitch looked like it had bounced off the edge of the pillowcase top piece, but when I sewed the pillowcase together this effect got sewn into the seam allowance.

What I'd do differently: Add less scented oil & don’t add a mint-based oil to an eye pillow. I have a lovely lavender mint oil and decided to add a few drops to the rice to scent the pillow. Unfortunately I accidentally poured in too much (there was a visible oil stain on the muslin pillow insert) and the menthol from the mint made my eyes water when I set it on my eyes!

Care: Hand wash, lay flat to dry