Pajama Pants: Lessons in Serging

I had this great flannel that I ear-marked for pajamas.The UFO Iron Craft Challenge spurred me on to get going!

If you have been following along, you know, I got a serger. And I recently made friends with it.

I made these new pajama pants on the serger (even though they are not knits!) and I learned a lot.

1. That machine goes so fast. It just RUNS through the fabric. I am used to really moving through the fabric on my regular machine. But somehow, with the cutting blade, this is much more dramatic. It feels “dangerous” it is so fast. Not dangerous like you will cut yourself, but dangerous like “I’m driving too fast”.
2. The seam allowances (if you are doing a good job) are very small.
3. I cannot use pins. On these flannel pants, that was not an issue, because flannel almost sticks together all on it’s own. But my word, pins are violent in this machine. And it cannot be good for the blades either, to chop through pins.
4. I do not know how to do a ‘hem’ stitch on my machine yet. Or if my machine is capable of that. So for the hem, and the elastic casing, I used my regular machine. (To do a hem, I would have to drop the cutting blade so that the hem is not cut off in the process. Or, are there commercial machines that cut one layer of fabric, and turn, and hem, and don’t cut the side you are hemming to?)

My conclusion: pajamas are totally the way to go as a “learning project”. They are not too expensive. You can get some experience. And if you really botch them, your eyes will be shut most of the time when you wear them! Also, flannel is really friendly to work with. It does not shimmy away from you under the needle.

Hope you all are toasty warm!!