Simplicity 5030, Version 2

Have you ever thought up a project, and you couldn't make anything else until you've seen if that project can work? Yep, this is one of those projects. Here's how it came about:

Step 1: Daughter Laura cleans out her drawers when she graduates, and presents me with 2 large shopping bags full of t-shirts, and wants a quilt.

Step 2: I make a quilt.

Step 3: There's still a overflowing bag of t-shirts left. What else am I going to do with them?

Step 4: Get inspired by a girl I see at a folk art festival who is wearing a pillowcase-style sundress, clearly made of t-shirts she (or someone) has sewn together to make a new "fabric".

Step 5: Decide Laura wouldn't wear that kind of dress in public, but she might wear a nightgown.

Step 6: Make Simplicity 5030 for myself, and decide it would be a great pattern to use for this project.

OK, enough with the steps... this is a project that just took on a life of it's own, and words just can't do it justice. So, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sam (the dog) is just mesmerized with the awesomeness!

What Do You Sleep In?

Me? My favorite thing to sleep in is a short, cotton nightgown. I've been sleeping in some version of this as long as I can remember. Sure, pjs come and go, and the long, flannel nightgown has had it's day, but night in and night out, this is what I grab. I'll add some comfy pj pants if it's cold out.

And one other thing... I'll sleep in the same gown until it's almost threadbare.

Why am I confessing this? Because my current go-to gown was purchased probably about 10 years ago. It's time for a new one. And I decided to make one after making an impulsive purchase at a fabric sale right before Christmas. A children's design, Monsterz by Cloud 9 Organic Fabrics, no less... what else am I going to make with it, I ask you?

The Pattern (still available in my shop):

I made view 3, with only one pocket. And one change. I added 4" of width to both the front and the back. If I make it again, I'll eliminate the opening in the back, as the neckline is plenty wide enough to just pull on over my head. I didn't change the length, but it hits just about mid-thigh on me. I used contrasting orange thread for all the decorative top-stitching.

A quick and easy way to add extra width to a pattern when you're tracing:

This may or may not be an ongoing thing, but I decided to "grade" my project, in a Home-Ec kind of way, so here you go:
   Sewing Skills: B
   Creativity: A

And the final result, details first, (which I slept in last night... giving it a big thumbs up for comfort... no twisting at all):

Back closure: snaps for baby clothes I had in my stash.

Pocket, with rick-rack and decorative stitching. Hem with also with a decorative stitch.

Yoke, with rick-rack and decorative stitch around neckline.

The end result!