Erica is back on the blog with some truly luxurious summer pajamas crafted from cotton, silk, and linen. Her designs are perfect for those who love both comfort and style. Read on to get inspired!
Life can get hectic, and it's easy to settle for well-worn pajamas when you're short on time. However, with all the time I've spent at home over the past year, I decided it was time to refresh my loungewear. Knit fabrics are great for casual wear, but I envisioned ways to adapt the Marais Knit Dress + Top pattern into warm-weather sleepwear.
The muslin stage proved crucial. My initial muslin was in my usual size small, with my standard cup size. Instead of using the included facings, I finished the edges with picot elastic. I picked fabric from my stash that I originally bought for my kids, but they outgrew the teddy bear prints! The quality of this European fabric is excellent, so I thought it would be ideal for a wearable muslin.
I adjusted the construction order because I wasn't sure about the exact length of elastic to cut. This allowed me to attach the elastic directly to the raw edges before constructing the seams. First, I stitched the shoulders and attached the picot elastic to the right sides of the armhole and neckline edges. Then, I flipped the elastic to the wrong side and top-stitched it in place. Afterward, I could attach the bottom of the dress and finish the hem.
As expected, the Marais sizing aligns with other Liesl + Co patterns. I’ve already worn and washed this wearable muslin several times.
For my first pajama set, I made the Marais again as a top in gray Kaufman Laguna, a lightweight cotton-lycra blend knit, with black picot-edge elastic along the edges and hem.
It’s versatile enough to double as a daytime top, but I intended to create a complete pajama set. For the coordinating bottom, I made view C of Lisette B6296 from 100% silk twill.
This fabric was designer deadstock, printed as a panel. Along the edges of the panel was an ivory border, which I used for a flat trim on the shorts hem band. I had just enough of the printed panel left to cut a smaller pair of shorts for my teenage daughter. Since I lacked ivory border for her, I used pre-made silk piping for her hem band. In hindsight, I prefer her version with thinner piping, but I was glad to use every scrap of this fabric creatively.
For my second set of pajamas, I used the new Wynwood Robe + Sleep Shorts pattern for the shorts. I worked with Kaufman Essex linen-cotton blend and Liberty of London cotton lawn from my stash. For a matching top, I cut the same woven fabrics on the bias using the Marais pattern again.
I lined just the top half of the top with the same Liberty lawn, also cut on the bias, for added softness and a touch of luxury. The Liberty lawn print isn’t visible when I wear the top, but I know it’s there. Hand-stitching the bottom hem of the lining exactly at the seam lines of the front and back of the bodice was a slow but rewarding process.
One of the trickiest parts of constructing this half-lined top was figuring out how to sew the armholes cleanly without visible stitching. Fortunately, I remembered the technique I used to make a sleeveless Rush Hour blouse. Liesl made a video tutorial about it when the Rush Hour pattern was released.
There must be many questions about what size to make when using woven fabric cut on the bias for a pattern designed for stretch knit fabrics. It depends on the weave of your chosen fabric and your style preferences.
I discussed using woven fabric cut on the bias with the Easton Cowl-Neck Tee in another blog post, finding that sizing up an entire size in that fabric resulted in a top that was slightly too loose for my taste. This time, I didn’t size up but made sure to cut all pieces of woven fabric and lining for the tank top on the bias in my usual cup size.
Next time, I might try sizing up just the armholes and side seams while keeping the neckline and all other seams in my regular size. As it is, it slips over my head easily and is comfortable, but perhaps for loungewear, I could have added a bit more ease.
Overall, I’m thrilled to have updated my summer loungewear wardrobe with this combination of Liesl + Co. and Lisette patterns. Next up in my sewing queue? A Wynwood Robe!
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