Best Flannel Pajamas for Women

Weight is the first thing you notice. This is a heavyweight brushed cotton flannel, closer to a blanket with sleeves than to a thin pajama set, and it's the one we reach for when the bedroom is properly cold rather than merely cool. The flannel is cotton, the button-down front is cut like a shirt, and it throws easily over a tee on the worst nights without turning the bed into a sauna.

We rank it as the best cold-weather set of the four, with one caveat that decides the purchase: it runs small. Take at least one size up, and two if you're tall or long-armed, because the cotton shrinks in a warm wash on top of an already trim cut. That's not a reason to walk away from a heavy flannel — it's the reason to order in October rather than during the first cold snap.

The payoff is how it ages. The flannel softens with each wash instead of stiffening up, which is what keeps a heavyweight set in rotation year after year, and the print looks like the photo rather than a faded approximation of it. Try it on before it goes in the machine — cotton flannel that's been washed is yours.

This is the least expensive set we kept, and in a warm house it's also the one that gets worn the most. It's a lightweight plaid set — soft, smooth to the touch, warm enough for a cool bedroom but nowhere near the blanket weight of the cotton flannel above it — and the plaid is cheerful enough that it doesn't feel like a compromise purchase.

The fabric is the thing to understand before you order. The listing calls it flannel, but the hand is smooth and light rather than nubby and brushed, and the fiber content isn't spelled out in the product details. If you want the classic all-cotton flannel experience, put this one down and buy the GLOBAL or PajamaMania set instead. If what you actually want is something soft that won't overheat you between the sheets, this is the pair we reach for on milder nights and in apartments where the radiator wins.

The fit is a little particular: the top is cut long and narrow rather than boxy, so it hangs straight instead of ballooning, which we liked and an oversized-fit fan won't. The pants have pockets, the set holds its shape through the wash, and the warmth is gentle rather than heavy — which is the whole reason it stays in the rotation.

If the shape of the GLOBAL set is what you want and the price isn't, this is the same formula — button-front shirt, pants, hip pockets — for less. The difference is in the cloth: this is a flat, thin cotton flannel rather than a brushed one, so it hangs like a cotton shirt instead of wrapping you up.

That thinness has a place. In a mild climate, a warm apartment, or a house where the central heating does the work, a heavy flannel is too much, and this set gives you the button front and the pockets without the weight. It also softens in the wash, which takes some of the crispness out of the fabric after the first couple of launderings.

The fit is where it gets fiddly, and it's why this sits below the other two: the pants run roomy and long while the top runs close, and the sleeves come up short. Size for the top and plan on turning up the hems, or wear the pants rolled at the ankle. At the bottom of this group's price range, it's the sensible first flannel set for someone who isn't sure they want the weight.