Reconstructing regular PJ's into Lolita PJ's

[chibimuse.livejournal.com]

When I was first learning to sew I did that project everyone does, PJ's! I found the most adorable candy striped flanel, a mixture of pink and green, and used that for the pants and accents on the top. Years went by, and the PJ's were rarely worn due to being too short in the leg and waaay too big in the top.

Then! Just this year, I found them in my drawer and realized the pants would make THE perfect bloomers! They have undergone the transformation, but alas now I have no idea how to re-design the top.

This is where you lovely ladies come in! Please help me come up with a new design for the top!




Here is what the pants looked like before, I forgot to take a before picture until I had already chopped off a leg! But they were your basic PJ pants. I just love this fabric, it is adorable! It was the end of a bolt so i got it for much less than usual.


Tada! There are the bloomers! I used the cut off portions of the pants to make the ruffle. They turned out bulkier than I would have liked, but now I know a better way to make bloomers next time.


This thing is the top. I've already removed the sleeves and collar. I was thinking of turning the sleeves into short puff sleeves. I have some scraps of the material from before, but none are long enough to make a continous ruffle. The V neck doesn't work for Lolita at all, so I want to completely re-design it. I may be able to buy some new pink flannel for the body, but I was hoping to use whats already there.

Any ideas for a new design for the top?

Comments

[mistressoftea.livejournal.com]

very cute!
cut the V neck into a square shaped neck and use your scraps to make the criss cross nex straps. ^^; just my idea.

[darksunmoon.livejournal.com]

Ohh, that's such a good idea, I second that motion!
And the idea of the neck straps seem pretty interesting too!!!

[chibimuse.livejournal.com]

Not sure about the neck straps, because they are PJ's and I would probably strangle myself in my sleep >_>
But I think I will definitely use a square neckline!

[loverkrys.livejournal.com]

I second the square neck idea. The puff sleaves would also be very cute! What about a little ruffle along the neckline in the striped fabric?

[chibimuse.livejournal.com]

I think I have enough fabric for a small neck ruffle, good idea!

[loverkrys.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm here for ;)

[hairgel.livejournal.com]

Omg, wow! Great job. How did you make the ruffle?

[chibimuse.livejournal.com]

I had to use a really weird method because I was so short on fabric.
But basically I had a strip of the fabric sewn into a loop, twice as long as the bottom of the bloomers and 6 inches wide. You fold the loop in half to make the ruffle (3 inches wide), which I then used a running stitch to gather onto the bottom of the bloomers. I gather by hand.
To put in the elastic I sewed through the ruffle to create a chanel big enough for the elastic, and fed the elastic through.
Hope that makes sense!

[novalis-b.livejournal.com]

Also maybe you could make the sleeves raglan. I think it'd make the top tons cuter

[chibimuse.livejournal.com]

That would be cute! Hopefully the sleeves have enough fabric for that.

[rhidia.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/t_shirt_surgery/4066549.html

Old EGL entry about how to reconstruct a t shirt. Hope this helps! nn

[chibimuse.livejournal.com]

I checked that out, but unfortunately my material isn't stretchy, so if I cut it down that small it won't go over my head T_T
thanks for the tip though!

[ayameh.livejournal.com]

You could always reshape the collar into a peter pan collar. :B That's perfectly Loli.
And maybe make a bow? n.n