Simply Mother

I followed a pattern [almost] completely, (rather than trying to hodge-podge 2 or more patterns together–or even just trying to somehow create with fabric an image that exists solely in my head!) AND I used regular, non-stretchy, non-slippery, non-drive-you-out-of-your-mind-type fabric and, lo and behold, I CAN sew. What do you know?

I used this pattern, Simplicity 2739.

And okay, so I didn’t completely follow the pattern. I intended to, but it didn’t work out. I was going to make View A (the long, yellow one in the above image), with the slits at the bottom, and no ruffle. Matt measured me, and it was supposed come exactly to my ankles.

I still have no idea what we did wrong there, but it only came about mid-calf, which seems pointless to me. If you’re going to have a long nightgown, it’s probably because you want to be warm, right? So why would you purposefully exclude half of your lower leg from the benefits? I don’t get it. But I didn’t want a ruffle, which is the only option the pattern offers, so I used these directions to create a (very minimal) flounce.

I also ended up doing essentially the same thing to the sleeves. I originally made the sleeves the pattern calls for–with the elastic in the wristband. I thought that would drive me a bit crazy, but I’ve wasted enough fabric (and time!) trying to wing things, and I had no idea how to go about altering the sleeve pattern, so I went with the original instructions.

Well, it turned out the sleeves were too short too, which looked bad and felt terrible. If you think elastic on your wrists while you’re sleeping would be annoying, try elastic meant to fit around your wrist but actually ending about 3 inches too high!

So I undid the casing, took out the elastic, tapered the sleeve so it got smaller toward the wrist, and then followed the same directions linked above to create a small flounce extension. And I’m actually quite happy with the results!

This is a really cozy nightgown! (So cozy I never want to get out of it, unfortunately!)

I wouldn’t have tried making this at all if it wasn’t impossible to find what I wanted in a store. You try finding a nightgown that:

1. Has modest sleeves and neckline.
2. Is long enough to cover the knee.
3. Won’t make me look like I live in a nursing home.

This is exactly what I wanted–an elastic neck so I can pull it down for easy nursing, big enough to wear while I’m pregnant, but will still fit when I’m not, ankle-length (I either wanted that, or just below the knee.) And I absolutely love, love, love the fabric.

Oh and yeah, blah, blah, blah, I was sick, whine, whine, you can see it all on Twitter (which is apparently now my dumping space for complaints. Especially those related to pregnancy.) I’ll spare you the details here except to say I think I’m all better now. And that homeopathic remedy I linked to really helped.

Filed in: crafty | January 29, 2009