A big theme for 2020 was adaptability. Take last Halloween for example. Normally I go crazy making elaborate costumes for the kids to wear for their school Halloween party and trick-or-treating but last year that wasn’t an option. What do you do when you can’t do what you normally do? You adapt.
I wasn’t about to let one of our favorite holidays pass by without some sort of fanfare so I planned a fun little indoor celebration. First I made the kids these fun pajamas using McCalls’s Hooded Onesie pattern (M7518).
I let them each pick out their own fabric which they thought was awesome, and because I can’t just leave anything alone, when the mid kid picked out this scaly looking design I suggested we add wings too so he’d look like a dragon.
Then we hid candy around the house and made the kids search for them in the dark with flashlights, played a couple Halloween themed games, and ended the night with a spooky movie. It was so much fun and the kids loved their PJs so much they wore them for a week straight!
I had to buy the pattern in both the children’s and adult sizes because my big kid is starting to get really big. Annoyingly though the kid’s pattern only goes up to a chest size of 27″ and the adult’s starts at 34″ leaving a giant gap of 7″ between the two – and my big kid falls pretty much smack dab in the middle of that gap. I had to do quite a bit of alteration to get his to fit.
I’ve never had any issues with standard sized clothing fitting my middle kid so I just made the size recommended by the pattern based on his body measurements and it ended up being a little bit small in some areas. I guess this is a lesson learned – always double check the fit before cutting.
Overall this was a quick sew with easy to follow directions. My biggest complaint is that there wasn’t a piece of fabric to go under the zipper so the zipper rubbed up against their bare skin. My kids wanted to wear these for pajamas but couldn’t wear them without a shirt underneath because the zipper was too irritating.
One additional thing I would change is the order the zipper is sewn on. The sides of the jumpsuit are sewn before the zipper which made it a bit difficult to sew the zipper. If I make this again I’d sew in the zipper first before sewing the sides shut.
Summary
Pros
- Easy to sew
- Quick to put together
Cons
- Large size gap between kids & adult sizes
- Didn’t fit either kid properly without adjustments
- No protection between the zipper and skin
Things I’d change next time
- Add a fabric panel behind the zipper
- Sew the zipper before sewing the sides
This is a pattern I would like to make again. I kind of want to make one for myself – it reminds me a bit of the footie pajamas that I loved to run around in as a kid!
