Nightgowns for little girls

My little goose is a wiggler. She can somehow manage to thwart Sarge's and my attempts to dress her, diaper her, keep her in one place for more than a second.

Most days and nights she's in nothing but a diaper and a t-shirt because she kicks and squirms and pajamas with legs are too demanding to put on her. She can take off leggings or pants like some sort of un-dressing Houdini.

I had tried putting her in dresses but she got her knees caught up in them when she tried to crawl. Well, guess what she's doing now....walking. Which means a whole new world of clothing and pajamas are opening up to us....or so I thought.

Almost everything for little 11 month old girls is two piece outfits, usually a tunic with leggings, or a shirt with leggings. The pajamas all have zip up or snap up legs, and again the 2 piece pajamas are all legging based. It requires two people to put her in pants or leggings. And most of the time after the diaper changing acrobatics, we just want the crying and squirming to stop.

I have pictures of myself younger than her wearing nightgowns. I guess that went out of fashion for babies. Maybe because they weren't fire retardant, or because kids are walking later. Who knows.

Me in an adorable nightgown with my baby doll.

 I found a bunch of flannel, and disney themed tricot nightgowns, but they all start at 24months or 2 T. And I tried to find 2T in an actual store, but they were just not there. I found them online but I cant try them on her that way now can I?

It's colder now, so I want to dress her in something, diapers only wont cut it, and she pulls off blankets when she sleeps.

What to do?

Sew something, obviously.

I went to Target, Belk, and Walmart. No baby nightgowns. So I found a cute long sleeve shirts at Kohls, and then went to Hobby Lobby to find some knit fabric. They had about 6 bolts of knits. Which is a shamefully paltry selection. They have 65 bolts of fleece though, so go figure. I'm guessing very few home sewers sew on knits. I couldn't find any colors that I really liked so I had some prints, and a pink knit. (which I'm not fond of)

Here's how I went about this little sewing adventure.

Buy a shirt. I went a little bit bigger than her size (12M ) and got a 18 M.
It's a waffle knit from Jumping Bean brand, in Kohls. It's a baby doll fit
which I thought would suit the idea.

Try it on your baby and measure where  the hem falls
and where you want it to be. I wanted an extra 4 inches.
(give baby something to play with or else
well, she's so wiggly)

Cut some knit fabric in double the measurement
that you needed to extend the shirt

I needed it to fall 4" lower than the hem, so I cut 9 inches
8 inches is doubled, and I added 1/2" seam allowances

Fold it over, (the folded edge will be your new hem.)

At this point I gathered my fabric at the cut edge. 

Measure agains the hem of your shirt, cut to fit the hem
measurement, and sew the sides. Pin the panel on the hem making
sure there are no gaps.

Sew with a serger, or with a zig zag or another stitch
which suits knits,
*take the pins out of your fabric BEFORE
it goes thru the serger*

When I finished the first gown I didn't like the look of it, so I took the extension off, and cut more knit, and gathered it at the unfinished ends. I like that better and then sewed the ruffled knit panel onto the hem. 

* depending on your gathers you may need double the length you had before* 

I used a zig zag the second time to attach it to the hem.

I did a few more. The last two I added ruffled woven fabrics, since
I couldn't find colors I  liked in knits to match them.

Dress your adorable baby in her nightgown/dress

Totally works as a dress too!!

So here you are, a tutorial on how to make a cute dress/nightgown from a shirt.

(All credit for the design goes to my Mom, Patti, who did this same style for me in the '80's. I have pictures of me and my 6 sisters in dresses she made from t-shirts that she added skirt onto.)

,Ruth

not quite finished

So, I'm finished with the Tutu's for this years Nutcracker. But, haven't finished a bunch of other projects because as of 6 am tomorrow, I will be in the hospital having a baby. (I hope)

Here's the round up of some stuff I started, and some stuff I didn't finish.

The cutest dress ever

the outlines of the embroidery

I finished the baby dress, but am not finished with the embroidery. I was going to outline the heart and her name, and then fill it in with satin stitch, but it looked so bad each time I started on the satin stitch I pulled it out. Now all I have is the outline, and it looks messy.

So, I'm putting it aside for now.

This upcoming project of giving birth to my daughter takes precedence.

Ruth

sewing projects

I'm suffering from pregnancy related carpal tunnel syndrome. So off and on I use wristbraces to keep the numbness and pain away. It keeps me from doing a log of stuff I'd LIKE to do. So does my sciatic nerve pain....also pregnancy related.

So instead of sewing, and crafting, and dancing and walking. I'm doing a lot of sitting and lying down and wearing wristbraces instead of the usual things I would prefer to do.

I managed a few things in the past month in spite of my general laziness.

I finished a baby dress for my baby (still not born) and finished some pillows for her crib. Mostly for my rocking chair, since she wont need them for the first 6-12 months really.

Little Lucy's ric-rac dress. When I sewed them on the fabric, it looked
much straighter. Oh well.

Pillows, for, well me. 

There's a slew of stuff I feel that I want to do but at this point lack the energy/money to go and do them.
And that's ok. Honestly, I really really like that at this point, my son can play by himself, or watch TV and for 30 minutes I can rest on the couch in-between other stuff one must do. I know I'll have much less of that when my daughter is born.

Until then.

Ruth

what should I make?

I have this wonderful fabric that is crying out for a fabulous creation. But what should I make it into?

My first idea was a dress, but it's a fairly large print, which can make it hard to turn into a garment without the repeat becoming well, an eyesore. Skirts can work better with large repeats I have found. But perhaps a maternity dress? Or should I just horde it for when the inspiration makes itself clear? Maybe a Baby dress, with matching booties?? Oh, be still my beating heart. So wonderful!!!!

Here are some great ideas. Not sure which I want yet.

I've also been going through one of my most favorite sewing books, Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner. 

I was thinking of making those little booties on the cover, and maybe that dress. You should really pick up this book. Great stuff in there. She also blogs about her creations, needlepoints, fabrics, quilts and the like.

Check her out here.

I'm perpetually in love with everything she does.

Well, first I MUST finish Poppy's quilt, then we can do baby clothes.!!!! My Mom is soooo excited. Baby stuff is her favorite. I should hope so, she did have 10 children.

Ruth