Shortly after I made this, I attempted to adapt the pattern for Violet. I failed and became convinced that I needed to find an appropriately sized pattern, because I am not very good at grading (that's fancy talk for making a pattern bigger or smaller). I remembered seeing some pajamas by Oliver + S lurking about on the crafty blogs, but the pattern cost $15.95. Generally, I don't buy a pattern unless Jo-Ann has a $.99 sale, so I balked at making the purchase. Unfortunately, no one else made a pattern for kimono style pj's. After a few days of thinking about it, I bought the pattern from Oliver + S. Their patterns come in two sizes; 6M-3T and 4-8. Since I was paying approximately $15 more than is my custom, I decided that I better get the bigger sizes, so that I could get more use out if it. You know, because no matter how many times I buy a pattern, I always convince myself that I'm going to use it like a hundred times. That almost never actually happens.
I will never learn.
Violet, aka Princess Pee-Wee of the Teeny Tushy Tribe, was swimming in the first size 4 pajamas I made. I gave them away to my friend's two year old son. I needed to make the pattern smaller and that's what inspired me to make Violet's dress form. I had tinkered with the pattern for a few days, but I wasn't confident it would come together right. My next attempt was going to be with good flannel and I didn't want to waste it. The dress form helped me get the pattern just right and then I started cutting.
The pattern calls for you to make the neck, waist and leg bands out of a separate fabric. I almost bought contrasting flannel and I'm glad I didn't. This trim really needs to be thin or the ties are just too bulky. I had this pink stripe fabric in my stash. It was once a ladies' blouse from Talbot's via the thrift store. It worked so perfectly, it was almost as if I'd planned it.
