Monday, January 19, 2009

A Quick (I swear!) Sewing Project.


Buttercup and I like nightgowns.

Buttercup and I get cold in the winter in nightgowns. (Okay, more me than her, but still...she's cold more than the boys!) Our first three winters here in Eastern Washington, we glammed it up by throwing an over-sized sweatshirt over our nightgowns...it was a "look", let me tell you. This year, I got creative with...wait for it...an old, cute flat sheet and sweatshirts! Yes, I made us nightgowns that keep us warm and (for me are actually long enough) out of a sheet and two sweatshirts. (Look, if you're not tall, you have no idea how much tall girls dream of nightgowns that don't hit us mid-shin...or at the bottom of our knees! Trust me on this, this is a big deal!) This project cost me roughly $12 for two nightgowns! (Sweatshirts were $5 each, the trim was roughly $2 and I had the sheet!)

Here is what you do...

Cut your sweatshirts off below the arm holes, but don't forget sweatshirts (especially the inexpensive ones) shrink up a lot and allow for that. We were going for an empire waist, so we measured about three inches below the armpit.

Then measure the circumference of the sweatshirt bottom and double it--that is how wide you need to make the skirt fabric. Then measure from below your chest to the floor and the is how long you need your skirt fabric to me.

Sew two basting lines - low tension, big stitches - (careful to not cross) across the width of your skirt fabric, one half inch below the top of the fabric...using the basting stitches you work the fabric to be gathered enough that it is now the circumference of the sweatshirt. After you've gathered the materials so that you have a width equal to the circumference of the sweatshirt, sew the skirt into a tube from top to bottom.

Now, you can just attach the sweatshirt to the skirt, or you can get all trick like I did and add contrasting piping first. After that, you just hem it and you're done.

Still not haute couture, but we're warm!

What do you think?

5 comments:

Melissa Henning said...

cute idea!

Anonymous said...

Fun, but we wear jammies here. The kids even wear them to school from time to time. Think hospital scrubs made of flannel.
She's too cute, by the way.

momstheword said...

I think that's a very clever idea! I get so cold at night too. I prefer jammies though, or sweats (real attractive, I know, lol!).

Loved the picture of the cat and the shelf. Both my boys pulled a cupboard off the kitchen wall by using it to pull themself up on the counter when they were little.

Broke some cups and things and dented the floor (not to mention the cabinet).

Erin said...

I hate sleeping in pajama pants...isn't that weird?

Carol said...

Girlfriend-you are ONE clever lady! I never would have thought of doing this! I bet you and Buttercup are nice and toasty warm now!