hey y'all it's Melissa I'm the writer of
the blog Mellie SE and I design Blank
Slate patterns today's project is going
to be this pillowcase style pajama top
we've got a gathered neckline in the
front and the back this tie shoulder
detail and it can be made from a vintage
sheet as I use vintage pillowcase or any
other type of fabric you'd like in order
to make this you're going to need to get
the pattern for the top and go ahead and
cut that out so if you can see the links
on the screen I've got a link right up
here for the pattern download or you can
look down in the description for the
blog post with links and it's going to
have all the details you need for you so
go ahead get that pattern cut out your
Fabric and then I will meet you back
here at the sewing machine to put this
together
[Music]
so I've got my top front and back cut
out we're also going to be using both
double fold and single fold bias tape so
the difference between double fold and
singlefold bias tape in case you didn't
know double fold bias tape is folded
twice so the raw edges are folded in and
then the bias tape is folded again and
that gets you the double fold
single fold bias tape is folded once
it's got just the two rages folded
in and if you fold single fold bias tape
again it becomes double fold so what I
have is half in wide single fold and
half in wide double fold bias tape we
will be using both of
these the first step to making this top
is going to be to place the two pieces
right sides together and we are going to
be sewing down the side
seams there we go so I want
to I want to sew this side edge and this
side edge together so I'm going to go
ahead and do that and then I will meet
you back at the camera and we'll talk
about what the next step is so I've sewn
the side seams here and I've gone ahead
and I have finished these side seams
with my serger or overlock machine now
if you don't have a serger there are
other options you don't need one to
finish the side seams you can do French
seams you could do flat Feld seams you
could use pinking shears um all of these
options as well as a faux overlock
Stitch that's done with a regular sewing
machine those are all explained there's
a link in the description down below
that will show show you how to do these
other kinds of seam finishes so choose
the one you want finish these side seam
edges once that's finished you're going
to open your top so that you are looking
at the armhole this right here is the
armhole and what you're going to do now
is you're going to be using the single
fold bias tape to finish this Edge so we
actually want to work on the right side
of this top
and we're going to unfold the single
fold bias
tape and we're going to pin it right
along that edge the armhole edge with
the right sides
together so we'll just pin it all along
there and then after we have this whole
thing pinned out like this you're going
to stitch right in that crease line that
is closest to the raw edge of the fabric
so let me go ahead and get this done and
then I will show you what this looks
like when it is stitched so I've
stitched all along this crease line that
is closest to the raw edge of the fabric
after you've done that you're going to
turn your top wrong side
out and then what we want to do is we
want to flip
this right along Ong the seam line so
there's the seam line and pin it so that
it lays to the inside of the Garment and
you'll notice how that encases all of
the raw edges so the raw edges of the
bias tape and the raw edges of the
armhole there get so stuck inside of
that
casing once that's pinned in place
you're going to stitch along the folded
edge here
and when you finish that here's what
it'll look like I've gone ahead and done
the other side here so this is the
inside of that armhole and you can see
that I've stitched this into place all
along the
edges The Next Step once we've got those
two arm holes stitched in place is going
to be to apply the
same type of finish here on top of the
neck Edge line with one except
setion so we're going to take the single
fold bias tape again and we will be
again unfolding it and pinning it
however at the very edge here when you
start you want to turn the raw edge of
your bias tape up like that and then
we'll pin along that edge and on the
other end you'll do the same thing
you'll turn the end in and then you'll
Stitch along that line what that's going
to do is it's going to give you this
folded end and not broad Edge and it's
going to help create the neck casing
that we're going to be threading the
straps through so let me go ahead and
pin and Stitch this and then we'll show
you what this looks like again so I've
stitched the bias tape in place along
the front and back neckline and I've got
those edges folded in and then this is
very similar to what we did with the arm
holes we're going to fold those edges in
and
then fold that down and we'll sew just
along the bottom Edge so that
the bias tape forms a casing and that
casing is what we will thread our ties
through so once you've got this
all folded into place and stitched down
I went ahead and I did the other side so
let me show you what that looks like
this is the completed neckline Edge this
is the wrong side of it and as you can
see let me borrow my pencil here to show
you you can actually stick things inside
that casing and we will use that with
the double fold bias tape to thread it
through let me get the back Edge
stitched here and then I'm going to add
a detail to the front edge of the shirt
before I start threading casing I want
to add a little bit of this
lace so what I'm going to do is I'll pin
this right along let's see how I think I
like it that way but what I want to make
sure to do is pin it right along the
stitching line that I've already used so
if I was going with the lace this way I
would want it right here because it
needs to be sewn on that same stitching
line it can't be sewn higher up because
that would close up our casing that
we're inserting the ties through
so I'm going to go ahead and I'll put it
on this way and Stitch it right along
there and I think I'm only going to use
this on the front side and not the back
side so let me go ahead and do that and
then we'll show you what it looks like
when you start putting the ties through
okay I've gone ahead and stitched the
lace along that front neckline Edge and
I've gone ahead and I've stitched down
the back neckline Edge so that I've got
casings on the front and the back
finally I did one more thing off camera
and that was that I took my double fold
bias tape and I stitched it together
along the the folded edges to create one
really long strap now if you didn't want
to use bias tape for this you could also
use ribbon um but this is going to be
the tie that goes through the neckline
so I'm using two yards here because that
gives you enough to go through the
neckline and adjust it as you'd like and
also to make a long bow with tails on
one shoulder so to insert this we're
going to put a safety pin through one
Edge and then we're just going to run
that safety pin through and the hardest
part is the very beginning but we're
going to run this safety pin through the
neckline
Edge to get the tie to come through the
neckline there we go after you get that
first little bit it runs through much
much easier the other hard part is the
last end and that's because sometimes
you can get your safety pin stuck under
the fold of the bias tape so you just
have to kind of work it around to make
sure that you get it
out but this side is working pretty
easily so I'm just pulling it through
there then I'm going to take the safety
pin and I'm going to proceed to the next
casing
Edge and go ahead and and pull it
through the front
neckline okay and once you get that all
the way threaded through then I like to
go ahead and tie a knot on each end of
the bias tape so it doesn't pull itself
back through
and then finally I see some threads that
I missed clipping
here so let me chop those off but you'll
turn your top right side out at that
point and you want to adjust the neck
line so you want to make sure that
there's an even amount of uh tie coming
out on each shoulder
okay and
then you'll want to use the ties to sort
of gather
the top in between
them and these can be adjusted to
personal preference and
taste but you'll just want to get those
ties to
where to where you've got but see I
think that strap's still a little too
long for me pull those a little
bit there we go that looks better so
I'll um adjust all of
that and then on this shoulder these two
ends get tied in a bow to complete the
top the only thing left to do after this
this is to go ahead and to hem here we
go to hem the
top so to hem the top you're just going
to fold the bottom Edge to the wrong
side twice so that all those raw edges
are inside and then we're going to go
ahead and Stitch that
okay so here's my hem stitched out along
the bottom I've just folded that in
stitched it in place and here is my top
now I am going to add that if you happen
to try to adapt this for a child um
there are a lot of um cons consumer
product safety commission regulations
about pajamas for children and
particularly about Ties on any kind of
clothing for children so you do want to
make sure that you Google
cpsc and make sure you're complying with
all of those things um you don't want
things that are a choking hazard or
things that are not flame retardant on a
child so make sure that you know all of
those things um before you attempt to
adapt this for a child but for an adult
here we
go for