The Bond Between Brothers

“A brother is a friend given by nature.”~ Ernest Legouve

In last week’s post I mentioned that there were a lot of summertime babies in my family. That is an understatement when it comes to these two! Baby Bert and Baby Byron, brothers, were born on the same day exactly one year apart! I have to add the “Baby” part to their names from my blog, so they are not to be confused with Bert, my grandfather, and Byron, my dad!

For reference, here is Grandpa Bert. Not to be confused with the baby that was named after him. HA!

And here’s Byron (my dad) and Baby Byron! Original Byron is the one with the beard! HA!

Their mutual birthday was approaching and of course, I wanted to make them something special. I thought about it, went through my patterns and decided on pajamas. I picked out this pattern from 1972. It was a size 3, and that was the size that both boys are currently.

I then had to decide on fabric. I dug into the depths of my fabric stash. It is actually very organized thanks to my cousin Elizabeth! I then saw the perfect fabric! This flannel Bugs Bunny fabric, and this cotton Marvin the Martian fabric!

Before we go any further, yes, I know that children’s sleepwear should be made out of flame-resistant material. According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, “Enacted in 1953, the Flammable Fabrics Act (FFA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1191-1204, was enacted by Congress to protect individuals from burns, fires, illness, and death as a result of highly flammable clothing. In 1967, Congress amended the FFA to expand its coverage to include interior furnishings as well as paper, plastic, foam, and other materials used in wearing apparel and interior furnishings. Under the FFA, CPSC can issue mandatory flammability standards. The Commission has established standards for the flammability of clothing textiles, vinyl plastic film (used in clothing), carpets and rugs, children’s sleepwear, mattresses, and mattress pads…”

Was there a problem with children catching on fire while wearing pajamas? Apparently so! The USCPSC goes on to say, “The standards were designed to protect children from small open-flame sources, such as matches, lighters, candles, fireplace embers, stoves, and space heaters.”

I suspect the standards were also designed to protect children from parents who smoked. My vivid imagination can imagine some wonderfully dressed man or woman from the 1950’s, leaning over the crib to kiss his/her child goodnight while smoking a cigarette. Then back to the dinner party he/she goes, while the cigarette ember catches little Dick or Jane pajamas on fire. Horrific thought but if you grew up around cigarettes you know it’s totally plausible!

Also, in the 1950’s before the regulation children’s pajamas were often made out of rayon or other synthetic fabric which would catch fire and melt easily.

What the other side to the situation? Well, some of those flame-resistant fabrics can potentially be toxic. I would encourage you to do your own research. Modern flame-resistant fabrics have “reduced exposure concerns”. Your best bet is wool or tight woven cotton for pajamas.

Which leads me back to this Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian fabric! When you buy fabric, it will sometimes say on the selvage edge, “not intended for children’s sleepwear”. I didn’t even check this fabric. It’s cotton and has a family connection which I will get to. If I intended to sell any sleepwear that I made, I would need to make sure that I was using the correct, fire-resistant fabric.

I chose this fabric because Aunt Tamy had given it to me a few years ago. She was going through things, found it and said she wouldn’t use it. She had bought it because Marvin the Martian was James’ favorite Looney Toons character. Bugs Bunny was Russell’s favorite character. Since Baby Bert and Baby Byron are Russell’s sons, and nephews to James, I thought it only proper to use it for the pajamas for the boys.

I got the pattern out. Both shirt front and back pieces, and the pants. The pants pattern was not in great shape.

A piece of the corner was torn away and missing and there was a tear in the pattern.

I looked at the instructions to see what the pants piece looked like whole.

It just went straight up to the waist band, so I used a ruler and chalk to draw a cutting line.

I cut out the shirt pieces and then realized, I was missing the sleeve pattern piece!! Luckily, I also have this pattern in a size 1.

The difference in size between a size 1 and a size 3 is two inches. Ok, I had to be smart about this.

It was early in the morning, and I was determined to finish both pairs of pajamas in one day! I took a deep breath, got some coffee and a donut.

I put on some music. This is what I sewed these pajamas to! As you can see by the time it was 7:51am and I had already run into sewing trouble!

I laid out the size 1 sleeve and added one inch to each side. Gentle reminder, I am not professionally trained. What I didn’t pick up from watching Grandmas, Aunt, and Mom sew, I learned on my own. This is my own method for upsizing patterns and it hasn’t failed me yet.

Then, more sewing trouble. What was this I noticed? The shirt pieces I had were for view 1 and 2. I was making view 3!!

Both front and back were the wrong pattern!!

This was my face when I saw the wrong shirt front.

And this was my face when I realized that I had not only cut the wrong shirt out, but I the pieces I needed were missing! I was also almost out of this fabric too!

The sugar from the donut kicked in, and I took the view 3 pattern out of the size 1 envelope. Everyone following along so far?

I laid the size 1 pattern piece on top of the size 3 to get a general idea of how much bigger it needed to be.

A little here and there.

It needed to be much longer, so I measured and marked the difference.

I laid the size 3 front neck facing onto my adjusted size 1 pattern and it matched. I wouldn’t have to do much to make the neck facing work.

I did the same thing to the front patterns. Laying the size 3 onto the size 1 and seeing how it was bigger. Keep in mind, that size 1 on the top was a different view. It buttoned in the back, and I could think of nothing worse than pajamas that buttoned up the back! Who wants to sleep on buttons?

When I was done, I had both altered front pieces cut out. I hoped my alterations were right!

I sewed the front and back together at the shoulders. Then I sewed on the neck facing.

So far, so good. I clipped the curves of the facing seams so they would turn inside smoothly.

When I turn in neck facing or have to turn anything inside I use this plastic knitting needle to run along the seams. It helps to push then, and any corners out quite well, without poking through the fabric.

I tacked the neck facing onto the seams by hand.

Next, I put one of the sleeves on. Much to my relief it went right on perfectly!

The second sleeve worked out just as well as the first. After zig zag stitching the seams, I needed to sew up the sides.

Next came the button holes and buttons.

As I moved onto the pants, I paid careful attention to the markings on the pattern that weren’t torn away. The front of the pants had two little triangles. Usually, the back would have three. since my back was gone and I cut it straight up I needed to be mindful when I put the pieces together.

I marked the front with a chalk “F”, just in case!

The pants went together easily and quickly.

I sewed the casing for the elastic waist. I left part of it open in the back to run the elastic through. I didn’t have the boys measurements, but I had recently seen them, so I imagined what it was like when I picked them up, and went with that measurement.

The first pair of pajamas was done! Now to do it all over again with Marvin the Martian fabric.

I decided to first do some repairs to the pants pattern. Whoever had ripped the pattern in the past, had tried to fix it with scotch tape. NEVER do this! When you need to iron the pattern to get the wrinkles out, the tape will melt. When I initially ironed the pants piece, I laid a pressing cloth over the tape so it wouldn’t melt onto my iron.

To fix it, I saved this piece of pattern paper that was scrap, and placed it over the hole and over the tape.

I used scraps of fusible interfacing as tape to hold the patch in place.

Then I added extra scrap pattern paper where the pattern had been torn away and was missing. I used my ruler to draw the missing part of the pattern.

I ironed my fabric. I usually don’t document this part, but it is one of the most important steps in sewing! Always iron your fabric before you pin and cut it.

I laid the pants pattern out. You can see what the finished pants pattern looks like after the repairs.

I cut the top pieces out using all of the alterations to the size 1 pattern as before.

After prepping the neck facing, I pinned it to the shirt front.

The rest of it was sewn just like the first. I was able to get both pairs of pajamas done in a day!

When it was time to go to the boy’s party, I wrapped the pajamas up in brown paper. I love an upcycle in more areas of my life than just sewing! I “fussy cut” the characters out of some of the scrap fabric and used a glue stick to stick them onto the paper.

Off we went to the boy’s party! Here they are getting ready to blow out their candles!

After the party they went home and put on their new pajamas! They fit! All of my crazy measurements and alterations worked!

The boys are adorable in their new pajamas! I love these two so much!

I was happy to make good use of the fabric that Aunt Tamy had saved all of these years. I was also happy to make something for the boys that represents and honors their Uncle James and their dad, and the bond between brothers that never ends.

Whew! Am I done with the summertime baby boom sews? Nope! But keep checking in on me faithful readers, and see what I’ve got up my altered sleeve for next time!

As for me, onto the next!