Our Weekend Visitor...

My oldest son, Bob, who is in PreK4, came home from school today with a very special friend.  It is his weekend to spend with Thomas, the preschool bear.  Now, this is a sort of a big deal.  Only children in the 4 year old class are able to bring Thomas home and Bob has been waiting for his day since he started in the 3 year old class last year :)  So our fun begins.  Guess I better plan something spectacular to do this weekend so our scrapbook page "shows-off" how cool the Frick House is!  I told Bob that when it was his turn to bring Thomas home, I would make him a pair of pj's so they could match.  True to my word...I whipped him up a pair before bedtime tonight....and now I get to share them with you.




Start with your pattern pieces.  I had already made these pattern pieces in the past when I made clothes for a Build-a-Bear.  Thomas is just a little bit thinner than the typical Build-a-Bear, so I will trim a little off the edges to make it more of a custom fit.  (I will try to get you a printable .pdf of the pattern pieces soon)
For patterns that I use often or make multiple items, I like to cut my pieces out of poster board.  It makes cutting with a rotary cutter so much easier and faster.




Cut your fabric pieces.  In this tutorial, I am only showing the pants, although I did also make him a shirt (those are the pieces to the left).
















As I said, Thomas is a little bit thinner than a typical Build-a-Bear, so I decided to take off 1 inch from the outside of the front and back leg.











Place one pant front and one back piece right sides together.  Notice how the inside seam is lined up, but the outside is not.  You will sew just on the inside seam.   Repeat with the other leg.

Here is a photo of the leg after I had stitched the inner seam and unfolded it.










Place the other leg on top, right sides together.  You are going to sew around the u at the top.  This will be the crotch of the pant.

Here is where it gets tricky.  After you sew the u, you will flip and turn the pants so the crotch seam is right down the center.  As you can see from the photo, they are finally looking like a pair of pants.
Now, just line up the outside edges and sew down each side.












At this point, I tried the pants on Thomas to make sure they fit.  Perfect!














Now on to finishing the edges.



I serged the bottom of each leg and along the waist.  This was my shortcut so I didn't have to finish the hem by folding under and then folding again.

Turn each leg under about 1/4 inch and sew.

Turn the waist band under about 1/2 inch and sew, leaving about an inch open in the back to feed the elastic through.

Matching pj's for my little buddy and his new weekend visitor.  This is a super fast and fun project.

Here is Thomas in his new pj set.  I had to finish up the shirt after he was in bed.  He'll be able to wear the set tonight.

And yes....if you are wondering, that is a super hero cape he has on.  What little boy's wardrobe is complete without a cape??  The bear deserves a cape, too.  He also got a new pair of jeans...and it's only Saturday.  He might need some more new clothes before school on Monday ;)



Happy Sewing :)  

If you are interested in patterns or tutorials for other "bear wear" let me know.