How to Win a Janome Serger! Show someone how to sew!

Hi Everyone.

Janome is having a cool contest--"Pass it On"  It's simple, show someone how to sew something (in our case it's pjs).  Photograph your efforts and submit pictures of your project--and la poof, you've entered to win a serger for yourself...and for your student.  There are four beginner sewing projects to choose from (just in case pjs are not your thing!)  Go to Janome.com to check out the projects and all the rules and regulations.  The deadline is March 31, so rev up your sewing machines (and sergers) for your chance to win. 

To inspire you,  Abby and I decided to team up to make some "pgs" (aka pj bottoms-- one of the four projects.)  The instruction on the Janome website are really good, but we wanted to show your our progress.  Today we'll show you how we drafted a pattern using a pair of pj bottoms, cut them out, pinned them together and serged them.   Next time we'll show you the finishing touches... plus you can see my "mommy" version of "pgs"

The first step is to find a pair of pjs that fit well and are made of the same type of fabric you are going to make your new ones out of.  Abby dug out her fleece purple panda bears.  Fold them in half and use them to trace a pattern piece.

The idea is to make a 2-piece pattern.  That means that there are no side seams.  Instead of tracing the side seams, we just drew a long straight line--from waist to hem.   Then we traced the rest.

Add a 3/8" seam allowance along the crotch and inseam.  We also added 1 1/2" along the waist for a drawstring casing.

Abby is a pro at using the rotary cutter to cut out her pattern pieces out of fleece.  (If you're going to use a rotary cutter, make sure you cut the paper pattern out on the line.  If you try to cut the paper on the line along with the fleece at the same time, you'll tear the pattern.)

After you cut out the leg, make sure the fabric is folded right sides together and pin along the inseam.

Cut out the second leg.  Make sure you have a right and a left leg!  Pin the inseam of the second leg.

Serge the inseams.  Make sure to take the pins out BEFORE you get to them (or your serger will be sad)

After you've sewn both leg, turn one right-side-out.  Then put that one inside the leg that's right-side-in.  So, you'll end up with the two legs, right-sides-together--Line up the crotch seam (front waist to back waist.)

Serge the crotch seam, waistline to waistline.  Then, try them on for fit.  Here's what Abby looks like in her new "pgs". ... We'll be back in a couple of days to show you how to make a casing for a drawstring and how to hem fleece!    We hope we inspired you to check out Janome's  "Pass it On" sewing contest!  ...I know Abby's hoping she'll win a new serger!