Simplicity 3669 - Pajamas - Part 1

Fabric Selection and Pattern Assembly

 My inaugural project will be Simplicity 3669 - a nice, simple pajama pattern.
I will be making D and E (short-sleeved shirt and trousers) and A (tank top).  I might also make a pair of shorts if enough fabric is left over.

I am using a printable pattern as it costs a fortune to send the paper version from the US.  It was a little surprising to find that the whole pattern (including instructions) requires an incredible 66 A4 pages.  I can almost hear the deforestation from here.

So here is a picture of the fabric I plan to use:

Just look at the kids in that picture. They look pretty happy with their choice of sleepwear, don't they?  I want my kid to look like that.  Yeah.

I found some super-cute animal print double gauze fabric online and just had to buy it because it has pink elephants on it!  My daughter is almost 3 and she loves elephants (except she calls them zo-san).  The coordinating fabric is some pink knit material I had in my stash.

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Fun fact: There is a children's song in Japan about an elephant called Zo-san.  The lyrics go:
Elephant, elephant,
You have a long trunk,
Oh yeah,
So does your mother.
Apparently, it was written by the Japanese version of Captain Obvious.

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So, once you have glued your sheets of copy paper together, you get something like this:

It's like a copy paper quilt!  You have to line up the little squares so that they are next to each other (don't overlap them - found that one out the hard way.)  I prefer to use squeezy liquid glue as it is more forgiving than a glue stick.  Even so, things can get decidedly wonky after page 20 or so.  Once the gluing is finished, you have a couple of enormous poster-sized sheets.  Now to utilise those handy paper-cutting skills I learned in kindergarten.

Several hours and a suspected case of RSI later, we have our pattern pieces!  Hooray!

Just a word of warning to those considering using the printable pattern - this version creates a lot of waste paper.  At least a third of the paper I used had to be thrown away.  If you can, use copy paper that has already been printed on one side.

Next up: we cut!