Carolyn PJ bottoms

Finished another detour project. A detour project is what I do when another project just overwhelms or frustrates me! So I decided to use that Jewel linen gauze that I had been saving for one of the daughters, to make some PJ bottoms. This would fit in with the May Linen pop-up sew-along on Pattern Review.

I traced the pattern and cut out the pieces on Saturday, and finished it Sunday evening.

Overall pleased enough. A few things I would do differently.

The cuffs puff out and are stiff; partly a rookie mistake on my part. I did a French seam to attach the front and back cuff pieces, but they all get folded to the inside when the cuff gets folded in half, making a French seam not only unnecessary, but creating extra bulk! It also made it hard to bring in the seam to get a better fit with the bottom of the leg. Who am I kidding. Not 'hard' - I just did not do it. I stretched out the leg (it is gauze, so just pull it and the wrinkles flatten). And so that also contributed to the funny shaping!

I made piping from the PJ bottoms I needed to replace, as well as the pockets. And I just took the drawstring directly (yay!). This way, it still kind of matches the PJ top. I always liked these PJs. The cotton is nice and a nice print.

Oddly, the gauze is kind of rough on the skin. I suspect that will soften with time.

I notice in the photos that they are not quite tight enough. I think the piece of elastic that I used for the back was too big, and I have sewn it down at the sides. Maybe I will unpick that.