I just made this set of pajamas (PJs) from a baby bolt I found at Wal-mart made by Camelot Fabrics. You can click on the image to enlarge and see more details.

In designing and making dress shirts for myself, I saw no reason why my PJ tops couldn’t be one in the same cut and designs. That’s where I came up with the idea of “sleep uniforms”, since my dress shirts will look very “uniformal”. I would have “sleep uniforms” because I would have matching fabric for pants in doing PJs whereas my dress shirts would generally go with a wider variety of generic looking dress pants. Work pants just aren’t that flexible in style to accommodate even the slightest of funky styles, even if they go and look sharp with the dress shirts.

This sleep uniform was the first fruition of that sleep uniform idea, and I’d have to say I’m most excited and delighted at how this turned out! There was barely enough fabric on the licensed baby bolt (3 x 1 yard) from which this was made to fit me, a 5’2″ 108 lbs guy, had I made it all out of the bolt fabric, so that was a big stroke of luck because those bolts cost $25 each! This was no cheap PJ! However, to suit the diamond Superman logo, I put in what I call a V-yoke (white) that is my favourite yoke shape, using brilliant white gabardine.

I then made the cuffs have a pointy V-shape instead of the boring rectangular handcuff looking stuff you see everywhere. I won’t use that style on all my dress shirts, but I have a feeling I’m going to make that a trademark of sorts for me.

I embroidered the logo on the chest, trying out two colour embroidering for the first time on my simple Brothers sewing machine with embroidery arm. It didn’t turn out well on white broadcloth, wrinkling it, so I cut around the logo and attached it to the chest with a web-like double-sided interfacing. I then sewed it down and applied Dritz Fray Check around the edges to help keep it on and stable. Only time will tell what will happen to it with washing and drying, but I feel pretty good for a salvaged project.

The other logos were from flannel I had with them. I cut them out, then cut out double-sided interfacing using the cut out logos to have the interfacing just a tad larger than the logos to help solidify the edges a bit before applying Fray Check. I also sewed these logos down along the edge.

Otherwise, the top has a placket hiding generic buttons. It matches exactly to the other side as if the fabric were continuous. Every edge is serge finished or serged at a seam. There are inside pockets attached under the waist fold over part of the elastic seam (see below from another project I’ve not yet blogged). They’re flat but serged on the edges so they’re durable as heck, even if made from thin shirting. But they’re fast and easy to make, and don’t get in the way of a design. You can probably tell with the placket hiding buttons, under pockets and such, I don’t care for “interruptions” in my fabric surfaces.

I have a bunch more of these licensed geek bolts, and hope to find even more when I go to the US in a few weeks. Supplies of fun fabrics are always limited in Canada, especially in small cities like the one I live in. With these bolts, I should have a nice collection of similar uniforms, mostly with different yoke shapes, by the time I’m done. I’ll have far more PJs than I’ll ever need, but that’s OK. I plan to wear these outside for casual wear, too! I’m dead serious! I’d look sharper than half the people on most streets in a uniform like this!

Finally, the “KL” in the name. It’s the “acronym equivalent” for Kal-El, which is Superman’s Kryptonian name. It was close enough to KL for me to make it KL to go with PJ initials of the pajamas, for a unique name.

I can’t wait till I get more of these sleep uniforms done, though sleeping in them might be hard cause I feel ready to go to work as Superman’s assistant wearing them! I should also find a woman my size to try them on, cause I bet she’d look even better in them than I would, given I’m not “model material”, lol. How would that be for unisex fashion?

Please click here to see other garments I’ve made and fashion related articles I’ve written.