Pajama Shorts Part 1 (AKA shopping disaster)

I was feeling pretty good about my apron successes (you can see them here in an earlier post) and was trying to decide on the next project and remembered making pajama bottoms when I was a young whipper-snapper so I thought--that can't be too hard, right?  So wrong.  I'll take you through the steps of what I did and what I wish I'd done differently. Also: I looked online for a tutorial for this pattern and realized that there isn't one anywhere so I figured if I post this maybe I can help others who are currently just as lost as I am! Welcome! Learn from my mistakes!

First I went to the store to pick out a pattern--in hindsight I wish I'd done a little more research before leaving the house. I got to the store and kind of wandered around aimlessly looking for the patterns, found a very small selection and looked through them and and alas! No pajamas. I was thinking that just doesn't seem right and was wondering if everyone who sews just ends up sewing the same exact things because there are only 40 patterns for sale. Then I saw a woman at a table looking though some books that had patterns in it and realized how dumb I was being. There was a gigantic filing cabinet thing next to her and I put two and two together and realized they don't have all the patterns out on shelves.

I looked through and found a pattern I liked, I picked this one because it had a lot of different options to choose from: shorts, pants, long sleeve shirt, short-sleeve shirt, and a robe with a belt! The patterns seemed relatively easy so I figured I'd go for it and as I advanced I could try doing some of the harder items.  

So I had the pattern I wanted next I had to pick out the fabric--sounds easy enough. So WRONG! I spent an hour wandering around looking at different fabrics at a complete loss.  First I noticed on the back that they have suggested fabrics you should use and I could not for the life of me find those fabrics anywhere! I had no idea what to even look for--what is a broadcloth?! Sounded like some sort of medieval thing to me. I asked a woman for help and she pointed in the right direction and told me I most likely just wanted a cotton blended with polyester or something so it didn't wrinkle as badly.  I picked out these.

I think they're cute!

From the little (and I mean very little) research I did do I learned that it's hard to make things out of a pattern that HAS to face a certain way--for instance if you have a fabric that has cats on it, you have to buy more fabric and work harder to make sure all the cats are facing the same way. So I really liked this blue/red hearts fabric because it was a cute fabric but there's really no right way for it to be. I picked the red because it looks well with it and it bugs me a little when people have tops and bottoms that are the exact same pattern (I mean--why not just make a jumpsuit?!)

So I had the fabric picked out but then I had to figure out how much I needed. I was at a loss. The back of a pattern packet is like a foreign language! I really wish I had done some research on what everything means on the back of those. I also wish I was less awkward and felt comfortable enough to ask for help instead of just staring dumbfounded at a piece of paper for half an hour.  I finally figured out what it meant: it has measurements in inches on one side and then gives the amount of fabric needed in yards. 

Another issue: I did not take my measurements.  Mistake.  Why do they number woman's pants weird?! Men's waist sizes are already in inches ex: 32, 35, etc; but us women get things like 9, 10, 0--I mean zero?! What does that even mean? Zero is the absence of something--that's not an accurate measurement.  For awhile I tried to think back to a time I'd accidentally worn my little brother's slacks but I couldn't remember what size either of us were at that time so that was no help.  Then I realized thanks to good ol' bras I knew my bust size. So from there I tried to compare my bust to my hips to try to decide what the measurements would be. I probably looked extremely crazy and like I was majorly checking myself out/feeling myself up.  I'm very glad that crafting is primarily a female thing so I didn't take the awkwardness to a whole new level.

Finally I felt confident enough if my make-shift measurements to purchase my fabric. Next I was on to buying the notions. I had noticed during my staring contest with the back of the pattern that there was a section that told you everything you needed to buy so I went around--and got everything I needed. This is the one thing that I'm proud of and felt that I did right. I got elastic for the pants, some sew on snaps, buttons, and matching thread.

Thank you for giving me a success out of this shopping trip!

From researching (I did some!) I knew that before starting anything I should wash and dry my fabric so it could shrink before sewing it.  So I followed the care instructions and felt pretty good about doing another thing right until I took it out of the dryer.

It had frayed a little and the strings got all tangled together in a ball. Is this normal? My other fabric didn't do this, is there a step I missed or is this to be expected? The fabric seems to be fine other than that.  That's where I stopped for the first day,  

Next I will start sewing my shorts and hopefully finish! I'll update soon on the progress I've made!