WIP: Mom's Silk PJ set

So… yeah… It’s mid August and I’m trying to complete my mother’s day gift to my mom (which was in May). I understand… I’m bad.

With that out of the way, let’s move on to all the silky goodness that will soon be her PJ set.

After missing the sew along last autumn with SewVeraVenus’s tap pants, I was determined to make a set for myself. I bought a few yards of silk charmeuse fabric and got too busy to work on them. When mother’s day was rolling around, it sounded like the perfect gift for my mom instead of yours truly.

I’ve never made her anything (sewing wise) since she too knows how to sew. I always figured if she wanted a pair of pajamas she would have made it for herself. Well… this is not so. She’d much rather have me do the work. heh

Knowing I was going to draft up a pattern for some french knickers, they just needed a camisole to match otherwise what good are french knickers to my mom?! She is always matchy-matchy. The one single camisole pattern I had in my stash is Colette’s Cinnamon top/slip set. I’d also been meaning to make myself a functional slip from this, but again… my mom comes first.

I set about drafting the knickers based on her body measurements. I went and made sure to add ease to the pattern since I wanted the knickers to be as swishy and comfortable as possible. I made a muslin in a silk charmeuse with an elastic waist band.

Before you yell at me for using silk on a muslin, let me tell you that I ordered it online and it was not a color I’d ever use for myself… for anything, plus it was a cheap, thin kind that I was happy to find a purpose for.

I also went and muslined the Cinnamon camisole using a really light weight cotton/rayon blend fabric that I use specifically for muslin making.

This is the muslin I whipped up, hence the selvage and ribbons as camisole straps.

Before I go any further, let me explain that my mom has a very different body shape than I do. While she is a mega pear with some ample thighs, like yours truly, she has a much-much more full bosom that I have. She’s in the realm of DD (or larger) while I am a B cup.

I have always skipped over the FBA tutorials and such since they never pertain to me. But now that I’m making a camisole for my mom, I’ve had to employ some unique solutions for support while retaining the loose look of pajamas. In short… I’m experimenting.

Anyhow… I went and stitched some scraps of wool suiting selvage strips into the seam allowance of the upper waistband, that supports the camisole cups in attempts at firming up that seam to offer some light support (for a DD).

Being in the experimenting phase, I wanted to see if there was a difference if I stitched the selvage to either the top or underside of the seam allowance. There wasn’t.

I stitched together the muslined tap pants in time for mother’s day (along with a few other goodies). I wrapped up this muslin, the pattern images, and some silk charmeuse fabric for her to choose from. It’s no fun getting an ‘idea’ as a gift, so I wanted to have the muslin completed so I could fit it at the same time.

My mom tried it on with delight! :)

The tap pants themselves had a bit too much ease and she said the waistband didn’t feel secure enough. I went and removed 1″ from each side seam which also tightened up the waistband. They looked much more flattering after removing this excess fabric.

The camisole was nearly perfect! Having such a full bust, she’s never had a camisole where the under-bust seam actually sits under her bust. For her, she has found that the under-bust seam generally falls right across her apex. :( Poor mom.

So after trying on this cami top, I can’t tell you how giddy she was that it actually was close to fitting. The only adjustment I had to make was to add in some positive ease on the lower back bodice piece so it would fit more comfortably over her hips and bum.

Even my selvage support system worked for her! She said she felt supported enough, which was wonderful.

My only fear is that the fabric I used on the camisole muslin has more structure than the finished silk charmeuse one will. But we’ll see…. I have some ideas on that score and hope they will work out in the end.

In: Sewing