It’s been a rough year and as much as I had plans to sew some epic Halloween projects, I honestly just want to crawl into bed and snuggle up with a cup of tea and a Ghibli movie. That’s when I realised what the greatest sewing project for Halloween would be; pyjamas. Cute, comfortable pyjamas made from some adorable Halloween fabric. As in my last post about pyjamas I will once again state that I’m an Aussie and we spell it ‘pyjamas’ which is the same in most English speaking countries as opposed to ‘pajamas’ which is the American way. That aside, let’s look at today’s project.

I’ve been starting to take an interest in vintage pyjamas and have started to collect some patterns. One that I’m really excited about is Vogue 5725 from 1962. Vogue 5725 contains patterns for a yoked nightgown and panties with a few decorative options. The nightgown is gathered to a faced yoke at the front and back; it’s recommended to make the gown sheer but keep it lined with lace edging in the yoke seam and bound armholes. The yoke and armholes of the non-sheer gown are bound with contrasting bias binding. The panties are fitted using darts in the front and back and are fastened with press studs. The panties can also be decorated with trim if desired.

For this sewing project, I will start by making the nightgown using contrasting but complimentary fabrics for the yoke and gown. Depending on how much fabric I have left over, I may make the duster but honestly, it’s not something I see myself wearing much so I might save any left over fabric for a cute small project later on. My pattern is a size 14 which gives a 34 inch bust. Given that most vintage sizes are a little larger than they say they are and the fact that the nightgown has no fitted bust, I’m taking a risk and hoping it will fit me as is. After a quick look online, there are a few copies of this pattern floating around in various sizes but I could’t find one in the size 14 or larger.

I was quite excited when it came to deciding my fabric combinations. I thought about opting for something very loudly Halloween-y, but when I saw Riley Blake Seasonal Basics Pumpkins in White and Orange, I knew the fabrics would compliment each other well. Designed by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake, these printed cotton fabric are from the Seasonal Basics collection available from fabric.com. These lightweight fabrics is easy to sew, soft on the skin and is very versatile making it perfect for some vintage pyjamas. Plus the little scattered pumpkins just bring me joy. I ordered 5 yards of the white (knowing I would have left overs and could still make an apron or something else thats cute), and 2 yards of the orange.

Sew, let’s get started. For some reason, this pattern made me a bit nervous which made me overly cautious and slow. I started out by laying out all my desired pieces on their respected fabric and cut them out. For my front and back pieces which were to be cut out of the white, I couldn’t fold the fabric in on itself and cut two at once as the pattern was too wide but I had more than enough to cut the pieces I needed individually. When it came to cutting out the yoke on the orange fabric, I should note that I needed double of each piece (so if I cut 2, I needed 4 and if I cut 1 on fold I actually needed 2) but I couldn’t find this written anywhere on the pattern pieces or instructions. When it came to sewing the yoke, the pattern just mentioned having a set for lining so thats something to keep in mind too.

Once everything was cut out, the pattern was super simple to follow. After creating my yoke and lining it, I was then able to attach my front and back pieces which I lightly gathered. I didn’t sew on my front/back pieces overly smoothly (a skill I’m still learning when it comes to sewing bands together) so I went back in with my hand sewing. I need to fix my overlocker as it’s no longer cutting the edges of the material and instead just bunching and then sealing the ends (which is really bulky) but if I were to redo this pattern in the future, overlocking the ends would be a definite.

Once the nightgown was done, I moved onto the panties or shorts. There wasn’t anything overly difficult about these shorts as the front has 4 darts, the back had 2 and it all came together pretty easily. One thing I would change in this pattern is to make the panties a little bigger and adding elastic around the waist and leg holes. Although they came out cute, I think they might just be a bit more comfortable with elastic but that’s just my opinion. I made my panties out of the orange fabric so when it’s all worn together, they match and look super cute.

Fit: This pyjama set came out super cute and I love the fabrics that I chose. This pattern has so many options when it comes to colour combinations as you can really play with colours, trims and extras. I’d love to add a little pumpkin sew on patch on the yoke or maybe some rick-rack along the yoke and bottom of the night gown. The fit was almost perfect; the only change I would make is to make the arm holes about an inch larger to help ease movement.

The shorts were a good fit but personally a little on the tighter side when it comes to my personal preference in pyjama shorts. I think next time I make them I will make them an in or two larger. The other thing I would change which is no fault of the pattern is that I would change the press studs I sewed on as they were quite faulty and weak. For the photos I ended up safety pinning the top of the shorts together as the press studs would not hold at the top of the shorts. My husband thought this was a cute set as well but he really liked it when I added some ribbon as a belt so give my body a bit of shape.

I love this pattern and really want to sew myself a few more pyjama options. I don’t normally sew anything this short but seeing as the weather is heating up where I live, short pyjamas are something I am slowly reaching for. This might be a pattern I use to make some Christmas pyjamas this year as well. I can also see this pattern being used for boudoir shoots if I need a special look. I love this pattern and would recommend it to people looking for a cute retro pyjama look.

I plan to try this pattern again but use sheer fabrics. As I keep on challenging myself with my sewing, next year I want to start working with materials I am unfamiliar with, sheer fabrics being something I’ve never really tried to use before. I’d love to make this set in a gorgeous green fabric with some satin trim which would be super cute; if you have an idea for this pattern that you’d love me to try, please message me on my Instagram.

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