Kid’s Clothes Week :: Pajamas for Aspiring Pirates

Keeping up with my Kid’s Clothes Week tradition of making the boys pajamas, I introduce to you the best pair of pajamas for aspiring pirates! The skull and crossbones pajamas! 

I finished them just in time.  With the photos taken this morning and final touches sewn up during quiet moments yesterday, the boys are happily settled in bed tonight in these cozy pjs. Call it a nice KCW miracle, right down to the wire.

I did, of course, make C a pair of pjs too.  But, as I mentioned here he’s no longer in the modeling business so all I have to show you are the taped-to-the-wall version.

He opted for a skull and crossbones with headphones. He is nine after all and wants something a little cooler than his younger brother.  His younger brother is extremely excited about the swords.  Extremely excited.

Both boys helped me pick the images.  We did a google search together and then I tweaked and mashed up a few things we found.  I printed the images onto freezer paper and cut a freezer paper stencil and applied black fabric paint to transfer the images. (P.S. If you have never transferred an image using a freezer paper stencil you should probably go do that right now. This is a great step-by-step, it’s so satisfying and fun.)

Just like the pair for his brother, the top is a raglan tee from Sewing for Boys (I know! Yet another one!).  They fit them pretty well, although the necks are too wide.  Like these I made earlier in the week, the patterns are upsized by me and I’m pretty much guessing at what I’m doing.  It looks like my ability to upsize the pattern successfully might be failing.  That’s ok.  This one pattern has been the source of countless tops for the boys.  I don’t feel bad retiring it.   And, as it is, these tops work beautifully for pjs.

To pajama bottoms pattern is Twisted Trousers from Titchy Threads.  I love these pants.  I’ve made casual sweatpants for the boys out of this pattern as well as wedding-appropriate pants.  The pattern is so adaptable with lots of options.  As it turns out, they also make great pajama bottoms, too. What a win.

As for the fabric details: The tops are made with a combination of the same Robert Kaufman double layer jersey that I used for my Lane Hoodie and the sleeves are from what I had left of the mailbox costume.

For J’s pj bottoms, I used the same fabric as his top.  But, I ran out of that fabric for C so I used black laguna knit and a grey french terry for his pants.  The ensemble looks super cute.  The bonus is I am using up lots of my excess knit fabric.

Both boys are super snuggly in their new jams.  Despite the fierce images on the shirts, they are extra snuggly and cuddly.

I don’t know how much longer these getting-bigger-every-day kids are going to want me to make them handmade clothes.  I can already see their interest receding.  But, I hope that the handmade pajamas tradition will stretch a little bit further.

A little aside: We are having a handful of difficult rooms painted in the house and our lovely painter is a great guy but pretty on-again/off-again.  As a result, the house is full of ladders and gallon buckets of paint and drop cloths.  I decided to roll with it and keep the drop cloth in the background.  It’s kind of cool actually. I hope, however, that I can show some ‘after’ pictures pretty soon.