Pajama Patterns

It’s flannel season.  More than that, it’s Christmas season.  I steadfastly refuse to put out Christmas things before the Thanksgiving turkey is fully digested, but after that, I do love me some Christmas.  Who’s with me?  Also: Christmas fabric.  Turns out I have quite a lot of Christmas fabric:

Some of these are random fabric orphans that I picked up here and there over time.

Like this one, which I mostly understand, except for the part about how I bought it and BROUGHT IT HOME:

And then there are some of the more traditional ones, which I can totally see myself using:

But the majority of this is from last year, when the Grinch flannels came out with Robert Kaufman.  Our whole family loves the Grinch, and we all have the movie memorized.  Grinch family pajamas, then!  So I stocked up.  Which is not to say that last year I actually MADE any Grinch pajamas, just that I stocked up on fabric.

I assumed I had pajama sewing patterns on hand.  I looked and looked, and I did–I had this little gem:

Um, OK.  No.  (The conversation may have included the words, “Really, honey? Not even if I make you a saucy little nightcap to match?”) So off I go, to find appropriate pajama patterns for all six members of our family.  Some weren’t too hard, and they’re pretty cute:

Others make me wonder.  Like, see how low-cut this one is?  Raise your hand if you’d never get any sleep in a get-up like this one (regardless of the reason):

The girl pajamas are pretty cute:

The tween & teen ones are charming, the women’s are alright, but the men and boy patterns!  I am virtually empty-handed in that regard.  Which led my to my new sick passion: eBay.

I have purchased the vast majority–like, around 96%–of this year’s Christmas gifts on eBay.  And I was feeling the POWER of the bid, homie.  Short of hitting the mother-lode at the thrift store (Carrie loves to do that) or at some epic, life-changing estate sale (like Mena‘s story, which makes me pea-green with envy), the next best thing is a yard sale, and what is eBay if not the world’s largest, never-ending yard sale?  I had my eye on a Butterick that was out of print, but I was willing to roll the dice and see what I could come up with just by searching:

Delicious.

Hypnotic.

Oh, yes.  I am smellin’ what you’re steppin’ in, yo.

So, basically, there is nothing out there for boys.  AGAIN.  I cannot put my husband and son in a Scrooge-inspired nightdress and expect them to still have joy in their hearts on Christmas morning.  It’s bad enough we’re all going to match in our Grinchy fabric–once our son hits 13, that’ll be SO EMBARRASSING, MOM!  It can’t be a Grinchy NIGHTGOWN, too.  What is it with pattern companies that there is just nothingnothingnothing out there for anyone who isn’t a cute little girl with blonde ringlets??

I think I’ve landed a basic, classic boys’ pajama top and bottom for our boy (which I’m afraid I won’t be sharing with you until after the auction ends–no offense, y’all), to be made from the same Grinchy flannel that my husband has requested for his pajama pants.  They’ll be my two Grinchy men.  As soon as the post man brings my eBay winnings, right to my door.

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  • Ellen
    November 29, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    May not help with the hubs, but Oliver & S has a great PJ pattern for boys.

  • Diana
    November 29, 2012 at 7:06 pm

    I was going to recommend Oliver and S too. There is also a pajama pattern in the Sewing For Boys book. Good luck with the husband pajamas – I can imagine that will be a challenge but agree the pants and an undershirt might just work best.

  • Ann
    November 29, 2012 at 9:44 pm

    I was going to suggest just basic drawstring pj pants and then applique onto the front of a t-shirt for the 13 year old. I got pj fabric just for me last winter and still have to sew it up……

  • Charlotte
    November 30, 2012 at 3:37 am

    mmmmmmmmm – men in nightgowns!

    *shudder*

  • Rachel at Stitched in Color
    December 1, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    Gooooo Grinch pjs! And, wow, I never thought to see a man in nightgown. Even the drawings are a little bracing.

  • Sarah
    December 27, 2013 at 4:54 am

    Vintage PJ patterns are good for men – pre-1970s ones have a classic style. Love your Christmas fabric stash!