Tubie Pajamas

Here is what I've been up to today...


Making these...


Here is an "inside" view:


For most, this probably doesn't look all that exciting (and no, I didn't actually sew pajamas...those are courtesy of Carters). For me, this is VERY exciting. Since Charlie got his g-tube, he hasn't been able to wear zippered pj's or one-piece outfits because there is no spot to run his tubing out of. Not a big deal when you can buy snap-front pj's and just avoid one piece things. However, apparently, they don't make a whole lot of snap pj's in sizes larger than 6-9 mos and Charlie is approaching the point where he is outgrowing the 9 mo pj's. This has been vexing me...because of the tube and his age, two piece pajamas aren't ideal. Then I saw someone selling pj's with a plastic grommet (think the round holes in certain draperies) inserted creating a (large) hole to accomodate tubes. I thought that was a great idea except the hole was pretty big and it was inflexible plastic. My in-laws then suggested button holes and reminded me I had a sewing machine that did buttonholes. So, last night, I hauled out the machine. I should add here that I am a (less than) beginner sewer. After struggling to get the thing threaded, I followed every direction to make the buttonholes and...nothing. It just didn't work. I called my mother this morning who helped me troubleshoot as best she could from the phone and then suggested I take my machine into a sewing store. I did and promptly learned that despite my lack of skills, my machine was actually not working. I also learned it was a pretty bad machine and probably not worth the cost to fix it. Then, after explaining what I was trying to accomplish, the woman helping me told me she had a tube-fed granddaughter! So, we set about making buttonholes on all kinds of machines and quickly learned that most machines will not make holes big enough to thread the tubing with the clamp through without considerable struggle. Which landed me in front of a very nice, pretty expensive machine that could make buttonholes of pretty much any size. So...after negotiating the price and the store also taking my machine as a trade in (they wound up only offering me $50 less than the price I paid for it 4 years ago!), I took home the awesome new sewing machine that probably does way more than I will ever need it to. Oh--and I got an embroidery machine in the deal. So...I got home, set it up and in no time at all, had retrofitted all of Jack's old 12-mo pj's into tubie pj's!

I am thinking of selling them to other parents in our situation. I understand now why the grommet worked--because most machines won't make a buttonhole big enough to accomodate the tubing. But, I like how discreet and soft these are.

So, I am pretty excited now and also excited to try out my embroidery machine. Not sure how much monogramming I need but it should be fun!