Toddler Star Trek Footie Pajamas

Introduction:

Everything is better in miniature, including a star trek uniform shrunk down to toddler size. Send your child off on away missions (bedtime) in style with their own pair of DS9/Voyager duty uniforms. Beyond satisfying your misguided attempt at living your favorite TV show, the pictures taken of your little one will provide years of embarrassment and blackmail. Do the responsible thing with your toddler’s pajamas and turn your children in to productive and contributing members of your crew. Grab your sewing machine and MAKE IT SEW.

Time to Complete: 12 Hours

Sewing experience Required: Intermediate

• Sewing Machine
• Sewing Machine Zipper Foot (Optional)
• Unstitcher tool
• Bobbins
• Black Thread
• Colored Thread (Based on uniform color)
• Stitching pins
• Scissors
• Black Permanent Marker
• Silver Permanent Marker
• 1 yd Black Fleece
• ¼ Yd Colored Fleece (Based on Uniform Color)
• 1 square foot Grip Fabric
• 1 Square Foot soft Blue Grey Fabric
• 24” zipper
• 3/8" Braided Elastic Band
• Old Footie Pajamas
• Rivet Punch Set
• Small Star Trek Communicator Patch (Optional)

The Pattern will be made using a pair of your child’s footie pajamas. It should be noted that children grow rapidly, so using footie pajamas one size larger than their current size will ensure that they can wear the pajamas for while before growing out of them. These pajamas will be referred to as the template pajamas moving forward.

In order to properly match up pieces when sewing, the template pajamas need to be marked at various points with a black permanent maker at a number of seams. Turn the pajamas inside out. Using the maker, place one or two lines across various seams. Later, after the fleece is cut out, the black marks will be transferred onto the fleece using the silver permanent marker.

The colored portion of the uniform (hereby called the shoulder accent) will be made by trimming off the top area of the footies. Turning the template pajamas right side out, zip up the zipper and lay them flat on the floor. The bottom of the accent should run just above the nipples at around the middle of the sleeves. Select a mid-point in the sleeve-to-shoulder seam and mark it with the black permanent marker. Using a ruler measure and repeat the same mark on the other arm seam. Next, using a straight edge, score a line across the chest and cut the pajamas to separate the shoulder accents from the rest of the pajamas. Note: do not cut the zipper with scissors. Cut up to zipper and stop. The zipper will be unstitched later.

Now that the template pajamas are marked for lining pieces up, use your Unstitching tool to laboriously unpick each piece of the template pajamas including the zipper. However, the trim around the neck and cuffs can be left. Note: The top seam of the should accent can be left in tact because the entire shoulder accent can be cut as one piece of fabric. The sleeve pieces of the accent will need to be unstitched.

Using the unstitched main body template pajama pieces, begin laying the pieces out onto the black felt. Trace around pattern pieces using the Silver Permanent Marker. Once the piece has been cut out, transfer the black alignment marks from the template piece to the black fleece using the silver marker. Notes on the Shoulder Accent Cut: The line where the accent shoulder was cut of needs to be lengthened 1/4” longer than the line of the template. This is because additional material is required to stich together the main body and shoulder accent that were cut apart. This includes the front and back of the main body pieces in addition to the sleeves.

Note on alignment marking: be sure to mark the inside of the fleece (if there is a noticeable difference between sides of the fabric). The inside of the template piece fabric and the inside of the fleece should both be facing up. Also, note that some pieces can be cut in duplicate including the bottom

Using the shoulder accent template, trace around pattern pieces using the black Permanent Marker. Once the piece has been cut out, transfer the black alignment marks from the template piece to the black fleece using the silver marker. Notes on the Shoulder Accent Cut: The line where the accent shoulder was cut from the body of the pajamas AND the inner neck circle need to be lengthened 1/4" longer than the line of the template. This is because additional material is required to stich together the main body and shoulder accent that were cut apart. This includes the main piece and sleeve segments. The neck circle is being lengthened so that it can later be folded over and sewn rather than using bias tape.

Using the bottom soles of the template pattern, place them on the Grip fabric and cut. Note that the grip fabric can be folded over and cut once using the template piece to make two foot bottoms because the foot oval template piece should be symmetrical.

Use a measuring tape along the inner perimeter of the collar region of the cut out accent shoulder piece to calculate the length of fabric needed for the collar. Alternately, measure the diameter of the circle and use the equation C=2πr. Using the Blue Grey fabric, cut a length (calculated earlier) by a width of 2”. Fold the piece in half and iron to obtain a long thin collar.

With the shoulder accent fabric facing up, overlap the collar piece by ¼” and pin in place. It is best to start by finding the center point of both the collar and shoulder accent, placing a pin at this point, then work your way around each side until the two pieces are pinned together. On the sewing machine, use the colored thread matching the accent shoulder fabric to stich the two pieces together and remove the pins.

Next, fold the very edge of the shoulder accent collar in with the blue grey fabric facing under the accent shoulder, then fold the blue grey fabric facing out again. The end result should be an “S” shaped layer in which the edge of the shoulder accent collar is folded in at the edge, and the blue grey collar is extended out toward the center of the piece. Pin the fold and sew using the accent color thread.

Using Black thread, sew the black felt front and back pieces of the main body onto the collard shoulder accent. The end result when laid out. Should be the back piece with two legs connected to the main shoulder accent which is connected respectively to the front right and left sides making a large “Y” shape.

The dreaded zipper. Fold the project in half lengthwise andinside out so that the front right and left sides are matching up at the zipper seam. Pin the two sides together and stitch a ½” seam along the zipper opening.

Unfold the project and with the inside fabric facing up, part the two flaps of the zipper seam and press flat. You should now have a 1” layer of fabric made up of two ½” flaps joined in the center. At the base of the zipper seam, ensure that both sides are able to fold down (it is possible that one of the pattern pieces wasn’t cut ½”deep into the piece to accommodate folding the flap down.

Place the zipper centered on top of the 1” folded flaps and pin in place. Using the zipper foot on the sewing machine, stitch each side of the zipper in place using black thread. The top flaps of the zipper should fold over the blue grey collar material and be tucked inside and pinned. The bottom of the zipper should be stitched down in place with a stitch going across the zipper seam. Additional felt fabric can be folded over the bottom flaps of the zipper and sewn in place if zipper flap irritation is a concern.

Using blue grey thread, stitch the top collar ends and zipper together with a short 1/2” stitch across the top corner of the collar/folded zipper, then down to the seam where the blue grey collar and accent shoulder meet.

Sew the colored triangular shaped accent sleeve part to the black bottom sleeve piece ensuring that both front pieces of fabric are viewed when the piece is laid out flat. Optionally the seam stub can then be folded down and sewn on to the black part of the sleeve if a flat seam on the inside of the sleeve is desired.

Pin the sleeves onto each respective shoulder of the accent shoulder piece ensuring that the colored accent fabrics align on both pieces. Sew both pieces into place. The end result when placed over the back of a chair should be the shoulder accent with arms on either side, a back piece with two legs and a front piece (zipped up) with two legs.

The back of the footie pajamas often have elastics sewn in to scrunch up the fabric so the foot doesn’t slip out of the footie. Using 3/8” braided elastic band, cut a piece approx. 2/3 the width of the lower leg. Pin the elastic on either side of the back of the leg so that it must be stretched if the piece were to lay flat. Sew the Elastic in place while stretching the band on the fabric so that when released, the fabric scrunches up. Note: a zig zag stich is best for this as it allows room for the elastic to scrunch up again.

Fold the project inside out and pin the outside seams from the tip of the sleeve down to the bottom of the foot. Sew the seam together. The end result should be arms now fully tubular and the front and back of the legs joined together on the outside seams.

The football shaped crotch piece needs to be aligned to the silver marks and pinned in place, along with the inside leg seams. Start by sewing one leg at the bottom and follow the seam up along one side of the football crotch piece. Repeat using the other leg but follow the other side of the football. The end result when folded right side out should be a complete jumper with tubular legs and sleeves with unfinished cuffs.

The top of the footie is made up of two identical fleece pieces for foot comfort and so the seam does not irritate the foot. With the project folded right side out, place one of the grave stone shaped pieces on either side of the front of the foot piece with the back side of the fabric facing out. There should be three pieces of fabric sandwiched and pinned together forming a straight piece with the curved parts pointing toward the main body of the pajamas. Stitch the seam and remove the pins. When folded out, there should be two flaps attached to the front piece of each leg with the front side of the fabric showing and the back sides together.

With the pajamas turned inside out, fold the leg flat so that the mid point of the heel and toe can be identified. Fold the Grip Fabric sole piece flat (lengthwise) to identify the same mid points. Match the points together and pin in place with the back side of the grip fabric visible and the front side facing into the tube of the leg. Pin all the way around the foot pad thus joining the foot pad to the pajama leg. Sew the two pieces together moving around the piece in a circle and overlapping the stitch by ¼”.

With the pajamas turned right side out, fold the sleeve cuff inside by ¼”. Carefully sew around the cuff overlapping the start and end of the stitch by ¼”. Perform for both sleeves. At this point the sewing of the pajama uniform is essentially done and is ready to wear.

Rank Pips could be made in a variety of ways from using puffy paint fabric glue to using brass buttons. I chose to use Brass rivets used for leather punching. The whole 240 piece set ended up being cheaper than buying a set of brass buttons and the final result is a flat sold piece of metal attached to the collar without any thread showing or buttons flopping around. Using an awl or small phillips screw driver, I worked the fabric to stretch a small hole into which the shaft of one of the rivets was placed. The back cap was put on and the set was punched together with fabric placed between the rivet and the punch bar to protect the sheen and finish of the brass.

Rankings are as follows:

1 pip = Ensign

2 pips = Lieutenant

3 Pips = Commander

4 pips = Captain

Small iron on communicator patches are difficult to find. I opted for using fabric markers to simply draw on the communicator. Friends with embroidery machines would be nice for this sort of thing.