Getting Kailey Cozy!

Now that Kailey is clean and refreshed it is time to start making her some clothes! I decided to start by making Kailey a set of pajamas so that she can have a cozy outfit to wear while I work on the rest of her clothes. After 22 years of being played with Kailey deserves to rest in comfort while I get her wardrobe put together!

Designing Kailey's Pajamas

Kailey was the second Girl of the Year ever released and because she was one of the first she had a pretty small collection. I want to make Kailey considerably more clothes than what she originally came with so I am going to have to use my imagination and make clothes that I think Kailey would wear. One piece that I am going to have to make from scratch is pajamas - Kailey's original collection had no sleepwear at all. I want to stick with the same color scheme as her original collection so I am going to be using purple, blue, teal, turquise, and green colors to stay with the theme.

For her pajamas I decided to use a teal/green colored flannel mixed with a cotton print I found that I thought matched the ocean vibe of Kailey. I modified McCall's pattern M8309 a little bit to make her a cute little pajama romper! Sewing the romper together was pretty straightforward following the pattern. The most time consuming part was just getting all the ricrac trim sewed on. I enjoy sewing by hand in the evenings while I watch tv so it took me awhile. I know I could get projects finished much faster if I used a sewing machine and maybe in the future I will, but right now I am enjoying taking my time and working on each piece by hand.

After getting the romper pieces sewn together it was time for the hard part - button holes. I wanted to put some buttons on the back instead of velcro, but I had never sewn button holes before. In order to learn though you must be willing to try so I marked the spots and carfully cut holes in the romper I spent hours sewing together. My first attempt at hand sewing around the edge of the button hole was pretty bad so I ripped it back out, but after my first attempt and failure I was able to successfully get all three button holes finished off. They aren't perfect, but they are pretty dang good for my first try!

I wanted to give Kailey another pajama piece to add to her look in addition to the romper and I found a light green shirt made out of a velvety fabric at the thrift store that matched her pajamas perfectly. I decided to turn it into a robe so she can stay warm in the winter! I intentionally cut the pattern pieces so that I could use the original hem of the shirt as the hem of the robe so that it has a really nice finish on the bottom.

The Finished Product!

And just like that Kailey had a beautiful robe and pajama set to wear! I also made a new bandana for Sandy the dog so that she can match Kailey!

I think her pajamas turned out amazing! The colors suit Kailey perfectly and I can definately see her coming home from a long day at the beach to warm up in her fuzzy robe! Now she can sit and relax in comfort while I work on all the rest of her clothes!