The Not-A-Pillowcase nightie

I sometimes wonder if my children feel like the wife of the mechanic who drives a car that badly needs to be serviced, or the family of the chef who prefers not to cook at home.

In recent days they have watched me sewing things for kinder and sewing costumes for friends, with nothing on the drawing board for them.

Don't get me wrong - it's not that my children are short of dresses or skirts - but when Miss L was reduced to tears because she has no summer nighties to wear that fit her (seriously this kid is a beanpole she has shot up so much!), well I did feel a little 'mother guilt'.

Then I remembered the quick and easy nighties that Lara made for her girls at Sewjourn - perfect!

Despite a day of consistent rain she's wearing it to bed!

I've always liked the look of these pillowcase dresses but felt they looked a little too like a nightie in some fabrics - so a nightie they shall be!

A quick Google search for some dimensions and a hunt through the fabric stash for suitable fabric and we were away.

For the binding I chose a fabric Miss L had been eyeing off a few days earlier - it wasn't enough to make the main body but plenty for the ties.

I have lots of fabric with which to make these little nighties, as in the past I bought a metre as standard for sewing for the girls - of course now that is not nearly enough for a dress with any detail, but it's plenty for a nightie.

I can make a more complex nightie of course with pleats and ruffles and so forth - but I figure that I will save the labour intensive finishes for things that will actually make it outside of the house.

So thanks Lara for the inspiration - she was one happy little girl when she saw this.

It's a tiny bit too big, and looking at this pic it's tied up a little too high! -
I will cut smaller armholes for the next one anyway, but still, she doesn't seem to mind!