Pajamas Part 1: Bamboo Flannel PJ Pants, His and Her

Still waiting for baby... so I'm moving down my list to luxury items for Mom and Dad-- new PJ/lounge pants!

It's been awhile since I've made pajamas... the last time I was so inclined was before little Bug was born, and I'm still wearing those. I made one with a bamboo flannel that I just LOVE... even after 3 years of nearly daily wear, it is still super soft. I made a couple other pairs with cotton flannel from Joanne's that I figured with soften with time, but actually they've gotten a bit rough in texture, almost pilling on the surface. Not ideal at all! 

Therefore, when I was fabric shopping for flannel for PJs, it was bamboo flannel all the way. Unfortunately the selection of prints in bamboo flannel seems to be really limited... someone please let me know if you have a source I haven't found yet! Natures Fabrics only has a very kiddie looking pink cupcakes print, and The Bamboo Fabric Store has a turquoise and brown scroll work print. The scrollwork was the clear winner. 

I've never ordered from the Bamboo Fabric Store, but they were fantastic. They shipped super fast, and when I somehow ended up with natural instead of the print (which was probably my error when I ordered), they refunded the mistake and sent off a replacement order super fast. 

When I was lamenting my ordering mistake to my husband, he expressed his desire to also have some bamboo flannel PJs. I wouldn't have chosen this print for him, but he said it was fine, and preferred it to plain white which was the only other choice. So I ended up ordering 5 yards!

For my PJs, I traced a favorite pair of my old PJs The waistband is folded over and a channel is sewn for 1/4 inch elastic, which creates a frilly top edge and a weak elastic band around the waist, which is how I like it... totally unrestrictive.

His were slightly more complex. I traced a favorite pair of his PJs, which had a clear front and back (much higher rise in the back. He also requested pockets... funny, I have NEVER made side seam pockets before since as a woman, I don't really feel I need any extra padding in that area! But they were super easy to sew, I think I will have to start adding them to things I make (such as toddler clothes... toddlers can never have enough pockets!). 

I've always sort of cringed at the economy of making PJ pants. But I just looked up prices for bamboo flannel PJs online, and at $70 a set, my $50 of fabric for two custom made PJ bottoms doesn't sound like such a bad deal!