Penguin Pajamas

Ever see March of the Penguins? Those crazy birds spend two months sitting around in -80 degree weather waiting for their eggs to hatch! Dressing yourself up like a giant polar-fleece penguin will not enable you to withstand such temperatures, but it will keep you pretty toasty at night! With the added bonus that you will look almost unbearably sexy in an outfit that is essentially a bag with sleeves and foot-holes. Think of it as a mitten (as opposed to a glove) for your whole body!

 

My aunt made me a set of pajamas roughly like these when I was a kid and, sitting in my freezing-cold apartment this winter, I remembered those amazing pajamas and determined to make myself a pair. My original “penguin pajamas” didn’t resemble a penguin at all, in fact they were made of a fabric with owls printed all over it. The name comes not from the appearance, but from the way that you have to walk while wearing these—like a penguin.

 

My roommate, who has a particular love for penguins of all kinds, was the inspiration for the actual black and white penguin pajamas. It’s up to you whether you want to make your own exactly as described in this instructable, or go for the simpler but almost equally amazing random fleece print look. There are some truly crazy prints available in polar fleece fabric. Why not go all out?

 

I’ve included a lot of steps here that an experienced sewer could probably easily ignore. he pattern is simple, as are the sewing techniques involved. Fleece fabric is not difficult to work with and the beauty of this garment is that it is quite forgiving—being so loosely fitted there is not a lot of customization necessary and any mistakes are easily fixed. Read only the parts in bold if you're in a hurry; parts in italics are optional extra steps to make your penguin pajamas even more awesome.

Step 1 Gathering materials

For this project you will need:

 

Fabric: At least 2 1/4 yards of polar fleece, blizzard or anti-pill (assuming the fleece is 58” wide, but be sure to check and get more than that if the fabric you’ve selected is not as wide as 58”)

 If you’re not on a very strict budget, it’s probably a good idea to get more like 3 yards, to avoid the risk of running out. You are going to be cutting 4 rather large solid pieces (front, back, and 2 raglan sleeves), so you have to be careful how you cut so as not to end up with leftover pieces that are large, but not large enough to cut your final pieces. Consider also the height of the person you’re making this for.

About ¼ yard of rib knit fabric, for the cuffs. ½ yard if you want to be on the really safe side.

 To make the penguin look shown here, you’ll need 2 1/4 yards black fleece and 1 1/4 yards white or off-white fleece, and 1/4 yard of yellow rib knit fabric.
 

Thread: choose a color (or colors) that will match your fabric
 

A zipper: I used a 30” long separating sport zipper.

 The zipper doesn’t need to be this long, but it does need to be long enough to be able to unzip to comfortably get into and out of the pajamas. Hold it up to yourself or the intended wearer of the pajamas to figure out what length is best. It also does not need to be a separating zipper because the end will be sewn into the project anyway and it will not be able to separate once you’re finished. The heavy-duty plastic teeth of the sport zippers are nice, though, if you can one.

 

You will also need scissors, pins, a measuring tape, and probably a sewing machine. Sewing this by hand would not be difficult, just time-consuming as there are a lot of long seams to be sewn.

Comments

[jack_the_seamripper]

this is adorable!
you are adorable!
I must do this someday.

[CameronSS]

I have a fuzzy thing in this same design from Cabela's, only in gray fleece. It's referred to among my family as either "the thneed" or "Cameron's penguin suit." I wish I had one that was as awesome-looking as this! (hint-hint to family members that sew).

Also: You must find yellow slippers.