Luka’s Robe

“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know.” ~Groucho Marx 

Remember that summertime baby overload that I was talking about? Well, here’s another sweet guy who was born in August! Luka’s birthday was fast approaching, and I figured I was on a roll with pajama patterns. I decided to make Luka some fun pajamas too! He is older than Bert and Byron, who received last week’s pajamas, so I had to go through my patterns and find one in his size, or close to it.

I found this pattern from 1985 and decided that I liked the look of view 1. I prewashed this shark flannel and got to work!

When sewing with used patterns, you never know what you’re going to get! I don’t check patterns when I acquire them. The only time I open them is when I’m getting ready to use them. Yes, this can be very problematic, but at last count I have approx. 1577 patterns in my collection. There is no way I have time to go through them all! With that being said, when I opened this pattern the pieces I needed were gone. It was time to change gears!

Although I have so many patterns, I did not have another boy’s pajama pattern in the size I needed. I decided to make view 3 instead, which is a robe.

As I sorted the pieces for the robe I saw this alarming marking. The “4” is clearly boxed which means this pattern is a size 4. Yet the pattern is supposed to be a size 6!

The actual pieces did say they were a size 6 so I decided just to ignore the “4”, and trust the “6”.

Because I was making the robe, this called for a different amount of fabric that was needed. This particular fabric I had in my stash, and since it was purchased at Joann Fabrics, and they are no more, I would never be able to find more of it. I had to be very precise when laying out the pattern and cutting it.

After trying a few different layouts, I did get the pattern pinned and cut.

The tie belt was cut using this sliver of scrap!

The first step to this pattern is to prep the pockets. This robe has lots of piping trim, which I was excited to use. I hoped as I sewed that it would give the robe a more “finished” look.

Pinning the pockets into place.

Next, I sewed the front and back pieces together at the shoulders. Then I would sew the robe together at the side seams.

The robe has these cuffed sleeves that also have piping, so I prepped those.

I got the sleeves on! The next steps were neck facing, and the tie strap. Yes, I know I have a sewing blog and should be taking more pictures. Sometimes though, I’m so focused on sewing that I forget to stop and take a picture! But it all went smoothly!

The robe was done and I was very happy with the way it turned out!

What fun would a shark robe be without a friend to play with? I decided to make a shark puppet to go along with the robe! I made it a different one a few weeks ago, so if you would like to see how it was made, the link to that post is below.

“SHAAARRRKK!!” – Sewing With Grandma

Off to the post office robe and shark went!

Luka loved getting something in the mail! His robe is a little big, but I wanted it to be so he can have it for a while.

He looks adorable in it, and the color matches his eyes! (That was just a bonus, and not something I thought about while making it!)

I love giving homemade gifts! Beyond that, I loved using so much piping in this sew! It worked out in the end that I make the robe and not the pajamas. It was something new for me to do!

That wraps up the summertime birthdays until next year! There is, however, a boom of fall birthdays that I’ve already started sewing for!

As for me, onto the next!