Favourite Pattern Series: Jalie 3355

 Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a massive Jalie fan. A year or two ago they did a series on Jalie basics and how their patterns are the building blocks of a wardrobe. I was thinking of this as I sewed up my 15th (? not sure of the actual count, but it's been many) pair of sweat pants from Jalie 3355. It got me thinking about the best value patterns and this one is definitely up there, especially if you have kids. I thought it would be fun (well, rewarding for me to see all my projects in one post) to showcase all I've done with this pattern. And I haven't actually started to modify it or colour block it as I've seen others do. Once I start that, the possibilities will be endless. 

5/6 of the versions I sewed for back to school

This pattern has been a staple of my oldest's back to school wardrobe since he started school. I've tended to make him about 3-4 pairs a year. I don't actually have photos of all of the versions and some he has since outgrown or blown out the knees so photos will be a bit more limited than the reality. 

3355 with elastic cuffs and with a simple hem

I don't love the elastic casing cuffs, but leaving that off works well. This year I modernized the pattern a bit and copied the slimmed legs and cuffs from Jalie Henri . I also made him some Henri's this year and I'll share those in another post. I love the extra details with the Henri, but for batch sewing 3355 wins. It's so quick to make. Now I can get a pair done in about 40 minutes. 

My little guy got a bunch of 3355 sweats this year. All of my kids are slim for their height so using this pattern I'm able to add length to the smaller size and have pants that don't fall off them. Mr. 3 doesn't quite make the sizing yet, so he has a bit of growing room. Added bonus the cuffs keep him from tripping on the hems as he grows. He got 4 pairs this year. The bonus with his size is he uses up the scraps from the other sizes. 

Not to leave my daughter out I made her a pair. She's a bit more adventurous in her colour choices so I'm able to use up some of the fun colours with her. 

And then the pair I made for myself this year. I really should have made these at the beginning of Covid and work from home. They are my favourite sweats.

Multiple sized family members also means for good economy in sewing. I was able to get 3 pairs of sweats out of the roughly 2 m of grey fleece. Size W for me, K for oldest, and F for the little guy. 

I've also made these up in different fabrics for pajamas. In knit fabric for me

And in flannel for a pj set for my oldest. The only modification I made was to add cuffs to the ankles and add a bit of width for the cuffs and hem and neck bands. it's drafted for ribbing and cotton lycra doesn't have quite enough stretch and it bunches on the versions I've forgotten this point. I generally add 10% width. 

Whew, if you've made it that far, we can continue on a few of the sweatshirts I've made so far. 

Changes to this version included lining the hood and adding extra length to the cuffs for extra growing room. So far so good. He's been wearing this for nearly 3 years. I think we are getting close to our last year out of it as he's now caught up to the width and it might start feeling tight. 

The daily wear has caught up with it and I recently replaced the cuffs and sewed up some holes. 

Little guy is in love with dinosaurs and got this sweatsuit for back to school. Yeah, you can see I forgot the extra width in the hem band. Hopefully, that'll be the last time I forget that. I love that for his size I can get this whole outfit out of 1 m of fabric. There is still enough left over to squeeze a toque out for him. I just need to get around to sewing it up. 

So that's the current roundup for 3355, minus about 3 or 4 pairs of pants. Seriously if you are looking for a basic hoodie and sweats you can't do much better for value than this pattern. 

To sum up my notes here:

Pants

• Slim the legs and add cuffs for modern look
• Make sure to sew a line of sewing around the elastic after inserting into the casing. This prevents it from twisting.
• Experiment in different fabrics. Flannel makes perfect pj set, knits make comfy loose pj pants
• Notches are at the knee. If adding more than 2-3 inches, add some over and below the knee. 

Hoodie:

• Add a bit of length to ribbing pieces (hem band, neck band, cuffs) and you can use cotton lycra
• To line the hood trace the hood pattern but leave about an inch off of the front edge and you'll get a nice fold over effect.

Yup date December 2020. Making family pj pants for Xmas. So far 2 pairs down (only 1 photographed) 3 more to go