Theme: sucky fit and excessive ease in big-company commercial patterns.

I wanted to make a robe for a friend and I figured I'd use the same pattern I'd used to make my robe. Since I was making a different size and she is short, I decided to make a muslin. Before I made it, I chopped 4 inches off the length of the front/back and the sleeves (because on mine the sleeves are way too long). 

When she tried on the muslin, the sleeves were still an inch too long. The front hiked up above the horizontal line I'd drawn for fitting, indicating the need for a full-bust adjustment. I mean, it's just a robe, but an XL with no dart? They go to the trouble of making you cut and sew a two-part sleeve, but the fit of the overall robe is terrible. What surprised me was how voluminous the sleeves were. It was insane. plus, they are very low, and I worried it would restrict arm movement, especially when I narrowed the sleeves.

So I cut another inch off the sleeve length and narrowed the top of the sleeves 2 inches and the underside another 1.5 inches. I also added a dart and did an FBA of 1 inch. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to raise the armhole after all that. 

Then I sewed it up in a flannel print she'd purchased, added some satiny lining fabric for trim, and voila, fits pretty nice, looks pretty cute.

Damn, maybe the sleeves are still too fricking long.
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Here is my robe. I don't think I ever put it in the blog. I wear it, but the sleeves are annoying.

Here's a better view of how long the sleeves are!

Maybe I made too big a size or something. I never noticed wearing it that it was oversized, other than the sleeves.

I've made the pants part of this pattern a few times. About three years ago, I made everyone in the family a pair for Christmas, each with an applique "O." I was too lazy to applique "OSU" in the time I had and certainly too lazy for "Ohio State University." Everyone is pretty much still wearing those pjs.

Then my daughter asked me for another pair. These are made from a nice flannel we got at Joann's. Very simple to make, though that never stops me from making them too big and too long. She likes them anyway.

Then my son wanted a pair of "suitjamas"--inspired by Barney on the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother." We looked around a bit, and they were $99!!! Plus $10 shipping!!! I said, infamously, "I will make you some."

Holy cows, this project took a lot of time. I made the suit jacket and pants from Simplicity 3971 and the inner shirt from Jalie 2322 (shhh, don't tell my son it's a girl's pattern; I did switch the button opening), though it's not a full shirt. I will show you my secret circumventions in a moment.  I used some polyester satin from Joann's.

The inner sanctum details are that I did not put sleeves on the shirt. I sewed a strip of the shirt fabric into the cuffs of the sleeve so that it would look like there were cuffs, but it doesn't really have that effect in the end. He wanted a tie, but I didn't want him choking or being uncomfortable in the (unlikely) event that he actually wore these as pajamas. So I sewed a strip of the black around the shirt collar and made a removable tie that affixes to the shirt with a button.

Actually, as the wrinkles in the full-length pictures reveal, he has worn it to sleep in!