Finished Project: Blank Slate - Sleepover PJs

Apologies in advance for the craptacular iPhone pics with bad lighting, but I wanted to blog about these while they were still fresh in my mind and before I get sucked into the mini-wardrobe contest vortex, starting tomorrow.

We've got a heat wave forecast for this week (Temperatures in the high 80's! In Seattle!), so I wanted to whip up a couple more quick sets of summer pajamas for Eva. I'd previously made the Peek-a-Boo Patterns Alex & Anna summer PJ's, but was intrigued by the envelope-style neck opening on Blank Slate's summer PJ offering and so decided to have a go at the Blank Slate Sleepover PJs:

Blank Slate Sleepover PJs

The version pictured is actually my second go at these. In the first version, which Eva wore and wound up in the wash before I could photograph them, the bottoms were too big and I had some bad gaping at the neckline. The second pair (pictured) turned out pretty much perfect, with a few minor tweaks:

• In my experience, Blank Slate patterns run very close to RTW sizing for major kids' clothing brands (Carter's, OshKosh, Old Navy, etc). We've been buying 2T size sets of things for her, but she's really still in the 18M size in pants, shorts, etc. I made her a 2T in the shorts on my first pass at this pattern, found them to be a bit large, and then went with the 18M in the pictured version. The 18M fit is spot-on.
• The neckline binding, as drafted, is probably too long for all but the least-stretchy of knit fabrics. Being inexperienced with this type of neckline (outside of a couple of onesies when Eva was a baby), I wasn't sure if I'd need to ease the binding onto the neckline to avoid gaping. The answer: Yes, you want the binding to ease onto the neckline to avoid gaping, same as you would with a t-shirt or other knit top. For the "good" version of the PJ top, I shortened the binding pieces by about 2" from the original draft.

Outside of those two things, this is a nice little pattern that goes together very quickly. It took me around 2 hours to complete the set from start to finish. I like the envelope neck opening because it makes it easier for Eva to put the top on and take it off herself--something that she's very keen on being able to do right now.

Here's the line drawing, so you can see that the final PJ's match the line drawing very well:

Blank Slate Sleepover PJs line drawing

As always, I found Melissa's instructions to be clearly written and photographed. She uses a method for applying the neckline binding that is both easy and produces nice results.

If I were to compare the Peek-a-Boo to the Blank Slate version of knit summer PJ's, I think that they're both good patterns, and if you have a preference for one version over the other, go with that. The Peek-a-Boo version runs a little smaller/more snug by design and is a little shorter. The neck opening on the Peek-a-Boo is a bit on the small side. I like the flexibility of the envelope neck opening on the Blank Slate, but like I said, watch your binding length when you pin on the binding, and adjust as needed before stitching.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be diving into my first garment for the mini-wardrobe contest. I'm looking forward to hopefully putting a small dent in my fabric stash and tick a few patterns off my pattern stash list in the process. And assuming that everything goes well, I'll have a few new outfits at the end of the month, too!