Men patterns

[Jo]

So I want to make my husband a silk pyjama. But before ruining all the good silk, I'm testing in some poplin.
I was a bit too lazy to draft the pattern from scratch, so got one from Burda style instead. Going by their measurement chart, I should have graded up a size, to 58 for the chest. He's very athletic and has 117 around the chest.
Before grading I thought I'd check the pattern measurements tho and decided for size 56 - supposedly for a 112 chest. The pattern actually measures 132 - now that's a lot of ease!
What's more, at the across front, where he measures about 42, the pattern measures 50.
He looks like he's swimming in it!
The silk I've got it a sandwashed silk charmeuse, so very drapey. The poplin is nowhere near that drapey, but not stiff either.
Should I go for this size or should I take out some of that ease at the across front? Does anyone have any experience with men's clothing?

[b15erk]

Jo, why not check with a pair of pyjamas he uses, to get an idea of the ease he is used to?

Silk pyjamas sound wonderful....

Jessie

[Jo]

Would if I could He only has jersey pyjamas and those are of no use really I did check some of his shirts wich are significantly narrower across front, but he says they feel a little tight.

[Surest1tch]

You say he's athletic, if he's into weight training I don't envy you at all.
My DH was, it was a total nightmare trying to make him things, very broad chest and shoulders, massive biceps narrow hips with muscley legs but he wanted things really fitted to the point there was no ease which put a terrific strain on the seams.  In the end I gave up and told him where to go  .
I wish you the very best of good luck

[Jo]

Surest1tch, yes, he's into weight training Very hard for him to find clothes that fit. If it fits at the chest, it's usually way too baggy at the waist.
I'm not even going to mention pants.
Since he was so good to me and bought me my machines (they all were various birthday/christmas gifts), I could at least suck it up and make him a pyjama
I'm planning a mock up for today, sleeves and all, hopefully it'll go well.

[Ohsewsimple]

I'm assuming the figures you're quoting are in centimetres!  Personally I don't think that's an extrme amount of ease for pyjamas.   They are usually loose.  Many shirt patterns can be almost this big too. 

[Jo]

Yes, it's cm 
I'll do the second test fit today. First one was ok around the chest, but was also for someone that's 1.86 tall, so it was a bit too long for him, which might have added to the "way too big" feeling.

[BrendaP]

IMO it's much better to have too much ease on night clothes then not enough.  One needs to be able to wriggle about and turn over in bed without restriction.  I would go with the ease on the pattern, though by all means shorten it if necessary.