I’m gonna start things out kind of slow, meaning one piece at a time, because when my husband saw this new pajama top and pants he said, “Hmm. Looks a little Clinton-esque” and when I gave him my what-are-you-talking-about look, he said, “You know, the whole pantsuit thing.” And then I got it…the lounge pants paired with the lounge tank is a bit, ah, overwhelming in a 2008 Hillary Clinton kind of way.
Truth is, he might just be right but I don’t care. I have been dreaming up this particular lounge-wear hack-a-thon for a long time and at the tail end of Selfish Sewing Week I managed to sneak in some time and make it. And, it feels like I’m wearing a goddamn cloud. I mean, it’s downright amazing.
But like I said, one thing at a time. First, the top. This tank is a Wiksten tank pattern but I hacked it by mixing knits with woven fabric. The back of the shirt is a lightweight knit fabric (the same as the pocket fabric) and the front is a voile called Mojave Illuminated from Art Gallery fabric. Both fabrics are super soft and light. I also put a small pleat at the front of the shirt and raised the neckline by a little more than an inch because the original pattern design is too low-cut for me.
The pants are also a hack and also in the same voile fabric (hence the whole pantsuit, Hillary Clinton thing).
To make them I took a pajama pant pattern I have, Taylor Made PJ Pants, which happen to be the pajama pant pattern I use for my class at Rock Paper Scissors. I dropped down the waist by 2.5 inches, widened and lengthened the legs and substituted a regular elastic waist for this strip of knit ribbing (I cut a 12″ wide strip of knit ribbing as it measured around my waist, folded it in half lengthwise and attached it by stretching it to matching the top of the pj pants). And, that, my dear friends, is how I invented the most amazingly comfortable lounge pants ever!
I love, love, love these lounge-y, pajama-y pants. I wish I could live in them. I have been, as a matter of fact, sleeping in them since Sunday. Look at the lovely, wrinkly comfort heaven created by these loungers! I know your legs are jealous.
Put these two together and it is pure magic, of a sort. I will be honest, before I made this particular outfit I had conjured in my mind the kind of outfit that a fancy lady would wear on a cruise. You know; a scotch in one hand, the wind blowing my hair and my life of relaxation and time at sea up ahead.
Put together, however, these two are a little crazy town. But comfortable as heck and in a good way crazy town. As an aside, have you hacked a pattern lately? What did you do? I have a growing interest in trying to hack a bunch of my patterns and just make them really work for me! Like Hillary Clinton on a cruise ship work for me.
Daniela D says
Love the mix of the voile and knit! Pretty darn awesome, Melissa!
Melissa Q. says
See. This is why you have a special place in my heart. You get me!!
Beth says
Love the hack!!!! Need those loungy pants. The stay-all-day-in-your-pj’s-but-still-lookin’-good kind of loungy pants. Perfect!
Melissa Q. says
Exactly!
kristin says
hehehe! yes! i’m sure you’re comfy as hell in these! funny thing is, the tank is totally wearable as regular clothes, the pants are totally wearable as PJs, but together…MAGICAL. 😀
Melissa Q. says
Ha! Ha! Ha! Magical is the best description yet. Yes, magical.
Kelsey says
Eeeeek! The top with the pattern on the front and the stripes on the back is so cute!! I want one 🙂 haha
Melissa Q. says
Ha! Yes, that part I love and I will definitely make more tops. I think, however, I only need one combo pair!