Christmas Sewing - Part 2

It was three days before Christmas and I stood staring at the stack of Christmas fabric the kids had picked out - in July - for their Christmas pajamas.  Mama-made Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve have become a tradition in our house.  I contemplated whether I wanted to get my sewing on and continue the tradition.  I was sick, a couple of the kids were sick, too.  But I knew if I didn't sew them before Christmas, they likely wouldn't get done at all.

The truth is I'm not all that into the Christmas season.  {Insert sad trombone, I know.}  I used to be.  I was utterly thrilled to get married the day after Christmas.  I'm not exactly sure what happened.  Maybe it was getting stranded at the airport several years in a row with little ones in tow until the wee hours of the night while traveling over Christmas.  Maybe it was the 9 months that Jude and Indigo listened to Christmas music on repeat until I finally put a ban on it, except during the month of December.  Maybe it's seeing Christmas decorations in stores shortly after Labor Day.  Somewhere along the way, I got burnt out on it.

I asked the kids if they really cared whether or not I made their Christmas pajamas for Christmas Eve.  They said they did.  I do love sewing, so they didn't have to twist my arm.   With Dan home from work, I was able to sew eight little pant legs rather quickly, using my trusty, well-loved Oliver + S Bedtime Story Pajamas pattern.

Generally, I amend this pattern just a bit to make them even easier.  I nix the contrasting waistband and instead add 1.5 inches to the waist.   I almost always pair these pants with a store-bought T-shirt, so the contrasting waistband isn't visible anyway.  I also add an inch or so to the pant length and skip the contrasting leg binding.  The leg binding is cute, but it adds some weight to the pant leg that I don't love.

On Christmas Eve, the kids each had their own pair of Christmas pjs.

Our tradition continues!

Since the pants came together seamlessly (ack - bad sewing pun!) I decided to sew a few diapers for Indigo's newborn, inspired by this - and Indigo's personal request for them.  I used the diaper her doll was wearing as a template, but the fabric was knit and super stretchy, so it took some tweaking to get it just right.

The snaps took a fair amount of tugging to unsnap, so I finished the last two in velcro, which I would say is preferable.  With the velcro, even 3 year old Evie can change baby's diapers. 

It was simple this year... but just enough in my book.