How do you celebrate spooky season? I started with big plans of continuing a new tradition for us, Halloween pjs! I wanted something unique, beyond simply using a Halloween print, but alas…I completely lacked inspiration. Summer turned to autumn, the school year began, and I had all but given up making them this year. Then, during a conversation with a sewing friend (thank GOODNESS for sewing friends!), I realized I could use Ellie and Mac patterns as a starting point for some pretty cool Halloween characters.
I got to sketching, and drew several ideas. The kids both chose pumpkins out of the four options I’d come up with. All my character ideas started with the Discoverer Tee as a base. I took advantage of the curved colorblock to create a pumpkin face. To achieve this, I added two simple hacks to the basic pattern: an appliqued face and fabric stem piece sewn between the bodice top and bottom pieces. I didn’t have quite enough solids in the appropriate colors in my stash. After an order from my favorite fabric shop, Raspberry Creek Fabrics, I was all ready to begin! I used cotton lycra in black, bright orange, and kelly green, with a scrap of kelly green french terry as well.
I needed to prepare the stem first after cutting out the pattern pieces. To do this, I used my projector to display a sample stem onto my mat. I placed the top front bodice piece on the mat and resized the image on the computer until I was happy with the size of the stem.
Then, I traced around the stem with a friction pen, which disappears when ironed. I stayed close to the basic shape, but didn’t worry about being exact…this is imperfect sewing, after all! I used a folded piece of fabric wrong sides out. Once both stems were traced, I serged on the lines and turned the finished stem right sides out.
Once the stem pieces were prepared, it was a simple matter of placing it between the color-blocked pieces and sewing the top and bottom of the shirt together. When I made the stems, I included extra at the bottom so I didn’t have to be so precise with seam allowance there. You could topstitch now, but I waited until after I’d appliqued the faces.
Speaking of topstitching, I’ve found it invaluable to iron the seam afterward - check out this example of how much a little steam helps those wavy seams!
I was most excited about the face appliques! This was where the kids and I could really get creative. It’s also probably the part of the project that took the most time. There were so many directions we could go, it was difficult to settle on final shapes! My son wanted a ‘scary face,’ and since he’s three, we went for silly/scary! My daughter drew her ideas for me, and I mixed them with elements from what I consider to be a ‘typical’ jack-o-lantern face. I like how her eyelashes idea made for a cute girly pumpkin, and it really matches her personality!
To make the appliques, I used one of my favorite sewing products, Heat n Bond! This is an iron-on paper backed fusible, and really opens up a world of possibilities! It is ironed on to the wrong side of the fabric, then the desired shape is cut out. I did a mix of tracing shapes, again beamed from the projector, and cutting freehand. I projected the mouth of my son’s pumpkin, and freehanded the rest. To fuse the shapes onto the shirts, I removed the paper backing, then ironed them on.
Heat n Bond, in my experience, will hold very well but won’t stand up to repeated washings, so I sewed around each face shape with a small zig zag stitch on my sewing machine.
Once these hacks were complete, I sewed the rest of the shirts as normal. To complete the look, I used the Kids Jogger pattern. As luck would have it, I was able to snag the joggers on weekly sale for $2 when I finalized my pj plans! It was meant to be! I used the pattern as is, in pumpkin orange with green cuffs.
I wouldn’t be the Imperfect Sewist if something imperfect didn’t occur. When I had completed the applique and topstitching for the shirts, I noticed that the top front bodice of my daughter’s shirt was inside out! Luckily, the solid black makes it nearly impossible to tell, unless you’re looking for it. I hope you’re inspired to create some Halloween character pjs yourself. I’d love to see them! As always, time is short and the internet is huge…thanks for stopping by!
(Written by: Megan Harvey)
