Summer nightie

This fabric, a crinkly cotton gauze bought on sale.  I was indifferent to it when it arrived.  I used it last fall for my Josephine, feeling meh about it as I sewed.  And then once the blouse was done, I del l in love with the fabric and wished I had more of it.

Then my sister asked me to sew a summer nightgown for my niece.  She had outgrown the one I sewed her three years ago.  I had just enough of the gauze left for the job.  Again I was ambivalent.  I thought, this will use up the cut and it is the perfect weight for a summer nightgown.  So off I went.

Once again, I fell in love with the fabric.  Which is serendipitous given that FabricMart just got more in.  I'm thinking of ordering another couple of yards.

The pattern is Kwik Sew 3423, which I sewed before here and here. I made a size 4 (my niece actually wears a 5 or a 6 but the pattern is roomy).  I made a couple of adjustments.  First, the pattern calls for 1/4" seam allowances which I don't like - little girls tend to jump around and put pressure on the bodice/skirt seam.  Several of the other nightgowns I made using this pattern ended up with holes there.  So now I alter the pattern pieces to allow for a 1/2" seam allowance there.  I sewed the seam with my sewing machine, then serged the edges without trimming for a second line of stitching.

The pattern calls for finishing the neckline and the armholes with lace edging which is zig-zagged to the raw edge to prevent raveling.  I finished the neckline with invisible bias instead.

My final issue with the pattern has to do with the button placket on the back.  The pattern calls for folding the placket over and then applying interfacing to the edge.  The raw edge of the fabric+interfacing is then just left raw.  I finished it with my serger but in the future I think I'll add 1/4" to either side so that I can fold the raw edges under and topstitch.  I don't know why they don't do that in the pattern.

Z agreed to model her cousin's nightie for me before we gave it away.  Her cousin is just a tiny bit shorter than she is.  If i had had more fabric I would have lengthened it a bit, but I figure it will fit this year and next.

Summer nighties

I love sewing nightgowns for my girls.  My sister and I had a lot of handmade nighties thanks to my grandmother, and I have fond memories of floaty, ruffly summer ones and snuggly flannels for winter.  I'm happy to be able to provide the same for my daughters.

I made these using Kwik Sew 3423, which includes toddler sizes up to size 4.  There used to be a version for older girls, Kwik Sew 3105, but sadly it appears to be out of print.  The toddler version is quite roomy, though - I cut a 2 with added length for both girls - so I think it will do for us for a few more years.

The pattern isn't the most elegant I've used, construction-wise.  The instructions for attaching the lace leave a messy-ish inside, and only 1/4" seam allowances are included.  Since the nightgowns are so long, the girls sometimes step on them, putting pressure on the seam joining the bodice to the skirt.  With delicate voiles or shreddy flannels, this is a problem.  I had to fix holes where the seam shredded apart on the girls' flannel nightgowns multiple times.  I prefer a 3/8" or 1/2" allowance for this pattern, so I can sew a seam on my machine and then serge the edges together without trimming.  More room for error.



I used a floaty voile that I got from FabricMart awhile ago for only $1.99 a yard, and two yards made two nightgowns.  Score!  I really love this fabric - it has plaid, flowers and some sparkly Lurex threads running through it.  What more could a girl ask for?  I trimmed the arms with bias tape rather than lace so that they would not be scratchy against the skin, but I did use lace to trim the neckline.  The girls are thrilled.

These nightgowns were actually sewn weeks ago; currently my sewing room is all packed up.  We are moving in a couple weeks and our stuff won't catch up until August at the earliest.  Most likely there will be no sewing until mid-September! So posting will be sporadic until then.

KCW Day 4

So, as predicted, I spent all of day 3 in bed feeling utterly queasy and as though someone had run me over with a truck.  There was no thought of sewing.  Yesterday I woke up feeling much better, but the thought of returning to the Izzy Top, which I had blogged about while nauseated, made me feel nauseated again.  Does that happen to you?  The thing that you eat, or watch, or do, while nauseated, nauseates you when you do it again later?  This happened to me with knitting, of all things, during my pregnancy with my second daughter - I was not able to knit again for months after the morning sickness passed.

Anyway, thankfully, I had another project cut out and waiting to be sewn - a cotton interlock sleep sack for my son for the spring and summer.  I used Kwik Sew 3809, which I used last fall to make a couple of fleece sacks.  It's a sleep sack pattern, folks.  There really isn't much to say about it, except I appreciate that Kwik Sew uses a thicker, sturdier paper for their patterns than other companies (*coughcoughSimplicitycoughcough*).  The sleeveless variation, which is the only one I have made, is super-quick to sew up.

 
I bought the material at Land of Oh while pregnant with my son, intending to sew up some tiny baby sleep-n-plays, but it never happened.  I figured I'd better use it up now, as the print, while totally adorable, is a little on the juvenile side.  Also, I never noticed until now, that the hot-air balloons say "Basic Elle" on them.  Land of Oh is in South Korea so I'm guessing this fabric is of Asian origin.  I have seen other fabrics from Asia (like some Kokka prints) with strange words on them.  That roll of label twill-tape that I got (also from Land of Oh) and used on my recent Class Picnics, has some labels on it that say "Sunbonnet" instead of "Handmade."  ?



What looks like pill on the picture above is actually just graininess - the fabric is lovely and smooth.

Actually, Land of Oh knits seem to be a really nice quality so even though they are quite pricey, I think I will order from them again.  I have been let down by the vast majority of my reasonably-priced purchases from a very popular Stateside knit fabric purveyor (pill city!) so I'm ready to spring for better quality.  I can't stop thinking about this gorgeous floral cotton-lycra jersey.  (Note, I am not affiliated with them in any way; I was just really happy with my fabric purchase last year and plan to buy there again).

I have some of the interlock left so I'll probably use it for tshirts for him this summer.  I used a dark teal cotton-lycra jersey for the neckband, and the zipper is a local purchase.