Men's Pajamas with Corded Piping

Readers, some of you may recognize this vintage 1930's Advance men's pajama pattern.

I purchased it almost four years ago and used it to make this vintage-inspired denim jacket.  Regardless of what you may think of the jacket, I almost never wore it (too boxy and stiff) and it's no longer in my possession.

Anyway, I did like the pajama pattern, particularly the piped solid version. The last time I made myself pajamas was eight years ago.  It was time to give it another try and attempt something a little more challenging.

I always cut my own bias strips and it's just one more easy step to stitch the strip around cording to create piping (you can see a short video of me sewing it here.)  I buy my cording at Daytona Trim, where they sell a variety of thicknesses.  I found that if I cut 1 1/2" wide bias strips, once I folded it over my relatively thick cording, I was left with a seam allowance of roughly 1/2", which is what I wanted since the seam allowances in my vintage pattern were 1/2".  NOTE: when you sew your bias around the cording, sew close to the cord but not as close as possible: you don't want this first line of stitching to show in your finished garment--or any stitch line for that matter.

The most challenging part of these piped pajamas was getting the bias around the shaped collar.  It helps tremendously to snip into the seam allowance of the bias so you can shape it around the curves.

This kind of decoration is definitely time-consuming: first you sew your bias around the cording.  Then you attach the corded piping to one side of the collar (with the bias facing in, since you'll be turning the collar right side out.  Then you sandwich the bias between your inner and outer collar layers and attach them.  Sometimes, if your stitching isn't close enough to the cording, you might have to stitch again.  It's a lot of sewing but the result can be dramatic.

Attaching my bias to one layer of my collar.

After attaching the inner and outer collar (with the bias in between), I trim my seam allowances before turning right side out.

The turned collar -- snazzy!

Sometimes people stitch another row of topstitching beside the piping.  Since my flannel is pillowy, I like the look without any additional toptstitching.  Another option is to stitch in the ditch, but again, it's really optional and depends on your fabric and the look you want.

Since my gray cotton flannel is extremely soft and drapey, I serged my inside seam allowances and stitched them down to form faux flat-felled seams -- much easier and the result looks the same.

This vintage pajama pattern also has piping on the left breast pocket (there's a separate piped facing piece), and on the cuff.

The collar came out especially nice looking.  I have the exact same gingham in green and in light blue and I considered those colors, but I think the orange has the greatest impact.

The Advance pattern also includes a neck facing.  For fun, I cut my facing in the orange gingham.

Here's the completed pajama top.  I love the way it looks and it's super comfy if not quite right for June.

I'll post more photos when I finish the bottoms, which I hope to do soon.  Sadly, I don't have enough flannel left for long bottoms so I'll have to make short ones.  Oh well--as somebody reminded me, your legs are under a blanket anyway!

In closing, have you ever made piped pajamas, or piped anything?  What was the experience like?

Have a great day, everybody!