Pyjama Party Sewalong - Elastic Casing, Hemming, and Done!

When I last left you all I needed to do was sew the elastic casing and hem my pyjamas.
My plan was to do this during the week. In fact we even had a public holiday in the middle of this week, but alas, as it sometimes does, life got in the way and I lost my sewing mojo.

So in order to make sure I was on time with the Pyjama Party Sewalong I quickly sewed the last few bits this afternoon.

First off I with inspiration from the Pyjama Party Sewalong hostess Karen, I sewed a hanging loop for the back of my pyjamas.

2 inch strip of fabric

folded RST

sewn a 3/8 inch seam

pinked the fabric fairly close to the stitch line

turned the fabric tube RSO

pressed and it's ready to install

The (not) fun part of measuring and pinning the elastic casing and trouser hems came after that. While I was measuring, pinning and pressing I thought I may as well do it for both the waistband and trouser hems at the same time, it saved me having to go back and do the other.

waistband had 1/2 inch turned under

the waistband was 1 1/2 inches wide to
accommodate the 1 inch wide elastic

while pinning the waistband I inserted
the hanging loop I had made earlier

I just folded a 2 inch hem on the
trouser legs, as I had already
overlocked the edges

Now I was ready to sew! Woo hoo!

for the waistband I sewed along the bottom of the casing,
making sure I was catching the folded under edge

for the waistband I also made sure to leave
an opening to insert the elastic

the trouser hems were nice and easy; I just sewed and made sure the
bottom of the hem ran along the edge of the throat plate

I was pretty pumped to insert the elastic, it meant I was an little bit away from being done. Oooh Yeah!

to make sure the elastic didn't get lost in the casing I safety pinned one end to the inside near the opening I had left. I inserted the other end into my trusty (and sometimes frustrating) Clover Easy Loop Turner.

the elastic al ready to be threaded through
the waistband elastic casing

I threaded the elastic through, making sure not to twist it as I was moving it through the casing. Once the elastic had been threaded through the casing I safety pinned the two ends together and tried them on to see if there was too much slack in the elastic. There was a little so I readjusted my safety pinning to make the elastic a little shorter and that did the trick. Not too tight, so as to cut of circulation, but not too loose that I'd be worried my trousers would drop at any moment.

the elastic after I had fitted my trousers

 When I was happy with the elastic sizing I just zig-zag stitched the overlapped ends of the elastic back and forth a couple of times to secure the elastic.

the elastic ends all fastened together and
ready to keep my pyjama trousers from
falling down :)

All I needed to do was stitch the opening to the elastic casing closed and I was all done. I set the stitch a bit longer. I thought it would make it easer for in future if I needed to readjust the elastic (or something).

the waistband elastic casing opening
stitched closed

Aaand then they were done! Oooh yeah! Sooooo great! In fact I'm wearing them now because there are sooooooooo comfortable.

Here are my jammies, done and done!

the inside and the hanging loop

the hanging loop in action -
what a brilliant idea!

And that's all she wrote! (well that's all I've written about my pyjama trousers anyway)
Hope you are enjoying the fruits of your labour!
V xo