Not only did I have a lot of fun making that first jinbei, but I slept in it and just loved how comfortable and light it was, so when I found that the white cotton swiss dot fabric was on sale at my local fabric store, I decided to make another, even lighter one.
The fabric was 145 cm wide, and 2 meters long, but now I know that I can actually do fine with 1.6 meters for my yuki. If I say so myself, my cutting layout rocks.
This was a much easier fabric to work with in almost every aspect. It didn’t shimmy much, stayed put while measuring, marking and cutting, and didn’t have the give the previous material had. However, learning from my last experience, I did decide that, after using a French seam to join the two body pieces at the back and finishing all the raw edges except for at the collar area, I put the collar on first, by hand. I have come to realise that, adding up all the time for pinning, smoothing and ironing, plus the problem of sewing on the bias, it is simply much, much easier and faster to sew the collar on by hand, starting at the back, going down one side, and then the other. Because I stitch so slow, it’s far easier to ease my way around the curve of the neck and really have control of how the fabric is lining up and stretching, without catching any folds. Plus, there’s less fabric in the way so it’s easy to concentrate on the task at hand, than when I tried to attach it after the sleeves are on and the sides are sewn up.
The one downside to the swiss dot fabric is that it won’t take a neat small double fold on the raw edges. I resorted to using a zig zag stitch with the tension up, so it ended up creating something very close to a rolled hem. This turned out to be close to the most perfect choice. I guess, if I’d had an overlocker, I’d have used it on this project, but I’m glad I found this raw edge finish through experimenting with the machine’s tension wheel. It gives a really nice, neat finish that will stop any fraying, but doesn’t add a stiff hem to such light fabric. I also used the same technique for finishing the raw edges on the shorts.
Frankly, it also made the construction very fast. I am still learning how to balance efficiency with aesthetics when it comes to what I choose to hand sew, vs what I use the machine for. As Dora can attest to, there is no virtue whatsoever in hand sewing every one of the jinbei jacket ties.
For some unknown reason, Dora was especially fond of this fabric. Maybe it smelled good to her? Or the lightness made her feel cool? It’s getting hot here in the afternoons in Malaga, so she was snoozing while I worked.
So, as can be seen, this was a pleasure to make, and a pleasure to sleep in, but perhaps not the pyjamas you want to be wearing if you have any houseguests, unless, of course, you’re a bit of an exhibitionist.