Have you ever noticed how comfortable a baby was when they slept with a blanket sleeper on? You too can make a blanket sleeper for you or a loved one, so this person can sleep super-comfortably too. This article will tell you how to make one.
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
Piecemeal
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Create your blanket sleeper's pattern. Lay several feet worth of untouched Christmas wrapping paper down on a large flat surface. Grab a pair of your night pants and a heavy long -sleeve sweatshirt on a flat surface so that both touch each other at the waistline. (Make this seem natural when placed down on the surface with the paper). Make sure the pieces are folded and laid in the same direction on the same side of the paper that should be folded over so that the white side is showing outward. You don't need to worry about the armholes too much, but you should sketch the approximate look of the armhole placements.
- Trace around the way the clothing fits on the paper. You will need to make two sides to suit both the left and right side.
- Any remainder of the paper can be used to make the arms and feet which will come later.
- For the shoulders, bring the sweatshirt away from the edge a little bit and trace. (Three inches above the sketch in the region of the shoulder should provide ample enough growing room for the wearer later, or for when they move around at night).
- Make some adjustments to the leg sections of the pattern to give yourself an estimate of placement in relation to the rest of the clothing and to know where you'll need to connect your pattern together. Allow for some seam allowance and write it in where the seam would be placed.
- Make yourself a designation of where the sleeve location line area is when creating it.
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Cut out the pattern. Make sure to make an additional cut at the center fold line to make the two matching location show separately.Advertisement
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Place your fabric down on your cutting surface and then lay down the pattern pieces for both sides of the sleeper. Make sure that you've folded the piece of fabric in half so to make two sides and so that the fold line is the very side of your body area for later use.
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Sew the body cavern pieces together. Face the two back pattern right side pieces together and sew them along the center back.
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Place, pin and sew your zipper on the garment. Face the front right sides together and place your zipper on the edge of where the garment would normally have the zipper and mark where the zipper will end. Trace the zipper on the garment itself with a pencil or a light pen or thin marker. Place the zipper in the place you designated in the middle and pin it down in place and sew it onto the garment.
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Pin both sides together and sew the inner leg, side and shoulder seam.
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Trace the sleeves onto more of the tracing paper/wrapping paper to make a pattern for the sleeves area. Use the same shirt you used when you originally made the pattern for the body cavern of the sleeper. Connect the top and bottom lines of the sleeve, but leave this a bit curved to provide for a less tight fit in the armpit area.
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Place your fabric for the sleeve on a flat surface and then place your pattern down and cut out the sleeve pieces out of your fabric. Fold them and sew the two sides together where the seems would meet perfectly.
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Pin and sew each arm side to the remainder of the body cavern around the armhole
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Fold under and sew the neckline but be careful not to stretch the neckline otherwise you'll need to start over with more fabric for a new sleeper again.
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Cut two elastic straps the size of your ankles. Wrap a piece of the elastic around one ankle and approximate it's length (Cut the elastic when only a centimeter or so is seen extending over the edge of the beginning edge of the elastic). Then do the same for the other ankle. Sew each one separately.
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Place and pin down and sew the elastics to the edges of the garment's ankle area.
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Create the pattern for the sleeper's feet pieces (sometimes people call this area "the boot"). Draw a large line that measures half the length of the real measurements of your ankle measurements.
- Get a measurement for the length of your feet's length from toe-tip to the back of the ankle. Drop it down an inch or inch and a half(drop it down 3 times the distance in the back area of the boot. Measure this length out and at a distance on the paper below the original area and draw out this location and draw out an estimated pattern of what a shoe should look like.
- Cut this pattern out.
- Place your fabric down and create your boot pieces. Make sure to do this four times and sew two of each side of the boot together, but don't close off the bottom of the boot as you sew the sides together. Do this for both feet.
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Pin and sew the boot pieces to the garment so that the right sides are together directly to the pants.
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Trace your foot onto one last sheet of paper and cut out the pattern.
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Place the fabric down one last time and create the foot pieces.
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Place the bottom pieces with the right sides together and pin and sew all around the bottom for the foot pieces to the boot.
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Attach some Jiffy Grip to the foot pieces if you feel you want a non-skid surface. Jiffy Grip can be found more commonly online, but if you walk into your nearest sewing center and ask for Jiffy Grip, they might be able to find some for you or be able to order it online. Jiffy Grip is the same fabric used on almost all baby blanket sleepers available on the market, and why not give your feet that same feeling.Advertisement
Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
Enlargement of Youth/Baby Pattern
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Measure the wearer's waistline starting at one point and ending right on top of that same point.
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Measure the wearer's height. Measure their height from their ankle/foot location up to an imaginary terminus at their neckline or shoulder.
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Measure both the length and width of the wearer's foot. Just relating the size of the foot to their shoe size, isn't a reliable method, and could be very illegal if done to a friend who's an adult who doesn't live with you, or isn't under your care.
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Purchase a baby sized pattern from Kwik-Sew. Although very few people find this particular pattern at most Walmart superstores, they still do exist on the Internet. You will just have to look a bit to find them, as they aren't widely publicized. The Kwik-Sew pattern number is pattern 2919. (McCalls does have a similar one but isn't exactly the same style as those most people recognize as being a "blanket sleeper" - so be careful of McCall's pattern 3665.
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Purchase some fabric that can be used in making this project. Make sure to buy a long enough and non-itchy styled fabric.
- Polar-fleece fabric is good for Winter temperatures, along with Alaska-styled winters.
- Nylon and rayon make for a sticky feel for any person, young and old, and in summer or winter. Try not to choose either type when buying these fabrics.
- Cotton fabric is always beneficial, for it's non-itchy and non-allergenic properties. Cotton can also help alleviate the need to remove them during summertime due to cotton's ability to hold sweat into the fabric.
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Take any other measurement you have and convert the measurement when cutting the fabric you also have purchased.
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Pin the pattern on the fabric, and, using the adjusted measurements you took earlier, cut out the measurements you created.
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Sew the fabric in the same formation that the pattern suggested. Sew the seams and the shoulder seams of the sleeper, while the right sides are together. Sew the sleeve seams and pin these to the armhole at the shoulder.
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Sew in a zipper that is measurable from the sleeper's ankle footing to the neckline/shoulder. Use a long running stitch, such as on a serger or sewing machine.
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Turn the garment inside out and reinforce the crotch area with a stitch or two.
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Purchase and attach a pack of non-slip feet-like white bottoms (called Jiffy-Grip) to the feet that you have previously sewn onto the garment. , which can be purchased from Amazon or through the JoAnn Fabrics special order area.
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Have the wearer try the garment on to make sure everything fits in its correctly-styled proportions.
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Sew a zipper-tab on the garment (if the wearer so desires) along with a matching hood to keep the heat from escaping from the top of the wearer's head.Advertisement
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Tips
- Blanket sleepers can also be called footed pajamas, footies, or footed-jammies (among many other nicknames) [1] X Research source .Thanks
- Try not to sew a pair of mittens (unless the wearer so desires them) directly onto the garment. Attach them a string or other material which can be attached to the sleeper instead.Thanks
- Although many of the other features that the wearer might have used from their childhood can be replicated in an adult blanket sleeper, these features will take a few extra minutes to create and sew, so plan on extra time to create these pieces.Thanks
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Warnings
- Ensure that the person really wants to have the sleeper made for themselves. Many people shy away once they've come to the realization of the embarrassment they've gotten into, once they've had one of these articles of nightwear made for themselves.Thanks
- Always sew the fabric with the sleeper inside-out. It'll lessen the chance that others will see the seem you have sewn of the fabric you chose to use.Thanks
- Take in part, the record (high and low) temperatures for the given area. This will help you choose just the right fabric to use when making the sleeper.Thanks
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Things You'll Need
Method 1
- 3 yards fabric (winter weight would best be done with fleece, but it doesn't matter)
- zipper(length will depend on person's height for length
- 2 elastic bands or 1 elastic band that's long that can be cut and folded into two or more pieces
- Christmas wrapping paper directly from the roll or some tracing paper that' large enough (see above; to be used to make the pattern)
Method 2
- Baby sized pattern of a footed blanket sleeper
- Measurements of wearer's waist, height and other measurements
- Fabric for project (5-8 yards worth of fabric should do)
- Sewing machine
- Straight pins/diaper pins
- Jiffy Grip feet-bottoms
- Zipper
References
About this article
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