Making Christmas Pajamas

Making Christmas pajamas is a fun family tradition. Everyone in the family can be given matching (or coordinating) pajamas that can then be modeled for a picture by the Christmas tree. Making Christmas pajamas is not that difficult and, once the tradition gets started, it will be a gift that everyone looks forward to.

There are so many different types of cut Christmas fabrics available that you will probably want to start your quest for making Christmas pajamas by finding the ideal fabrics.

There are fun graphics, more traditional floral prints, and lots more.

The key when choosing a fabric for making Christmas pajamas is not only that it be something cute, but also that it be comfortable. The women in your family might appreciate fleece pajama bottoms, while the men might prefer flannel boxer shorts or lounging pants made out of jersey or cotton.

Once you have picked out some fabrics that you like, it's time to look for patterns. Consider all the different family members you will be making pajamas for and what they might prefer. There are a lot of options when it comes to making Christmas pajamas:

• Onesies for babies
• Pants and shirts
• Shorts and shirts
• Big, long sleeping shirts (for girls)
• Long-sleeved shirts

You could even make ethnically inspired loungewear!

There are not a lot of free sewing patterns available on the Internet, probably because there are so many individual measurements that go into a piece of clothing. It's a pain for individuals to resize a pattern they developed into something that will fit other people.

So it's likely you will have to buy a pattern for making Christmas pajamas. Check the ads for your local craft store or fabric shop and see if you can pick up your patterns when they are on sale. Even if you can't, you'll probably spend three or four dollars a pattern and will need several, depending on how many differently sized and aged people you are making Christmas pajamas for.

Simplicity has a bunch of pajama patterns in its "Sew Easy" line, including shirts, pants, snugglies, little girl nightgowns, sleep shirts and more. McCall's has a great collection that includes fun additions such as robes, shrugs, blankets and eye masks. Butterick also has some cute patterns, although they are mostly for women and girls.

The first rule of thumb for making Christmas pajamas is to start early, especially if you have a large family. It doesn't seem like much goes into pajamas, but, like anything else, it can take more time than you expect.

Don't plan to make all those extras like robes and matching blankets unless you know you have the time and the budget for it. Plain old pants and shirts are fine and will go over really well even without a matching eye mask.

If you find yourself running out of time while making Christmas pajamas, consider taking a little help from the store. Buy a bunch of slightly oversized cotton T-shirts in matching colors or white. You can appliqué cut out shapes onto the shirts, use paint pens to decorate them, or use iron ons to decorate the final garment.

A really fun idea is to get some iron transfer paper for you inkjet printer and print out an old holiday photo or another meaningful image. Then you can use your iron to "print" the image onto your shirts. Why not gather baby pictures of each of your recipients and put their picture on their pajamas? Or, if your family has a tradition of visiting Santa, find the pictures with the screaming babies and use those on your shirts.

It's fine to make Christmas pajamas once and be done with it. But it is also possible to start a Christmas pajamas tradition in your family.

My grandmother always bought the four granddaughters (three of us were born in the same year) matching pajamas. Each year, we'd line up by the stairs or on the couch and take a picture of all of us in our matching pajamas. You can do the same thing with your homemade pajamas. When your kids outgrow them, you can even reuse the fabric to make them a memory quilt. It's regifting at its finest!

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