Summer Tranquil Nightgown

Last year I sewed a long-sleeve nightgown for my mother, using Love Notion's Tranquil collection. I am still fascinated with the interesting details of the pattern, so this year I made another nightgown, but a short-sleeved one for the summer. The fabric is a lovely viscose-cotton knit, light and soft, extremely pleasant to wear.

I used the same size as last year, I only tried to make the neck opening less gaping, as my mother complained of its width in the previous nightgown. I believe the problem with larger sizes is, that people can be large at different parts of their body, and as my mother has actually a fairly small stature, the upper part of her body, above the bust, is quite small. I could have made the opening even smaller, I believe the neckline at the back is a bit too wide, but that only occurred to me after I had already made the nightgown. Now I'm just crossing my fingers, that the fit will be alright this time.

Pattern: Love Notions Tranquil Collection

Size: M, elongated by 3 cm

Fabric: cotton viscose knit, 2 m

Time to make: 4 days

I bought a fairly large piece of fabric and I've got still plenty of it, so I'm thinking of making myself a pajama set, using the same pattern.

Galaxy Nightgown

My second pattern make from the 2023 Make Nine List - the Tranquil Nightgown by Love Notions.

I bought the pattern at the end of 2022 with a nightgown for my mother in mind. Of course, I could have adapted any t-shirt or knit dress pattern for a nightgown, but I liked so much the crossover details at the hems and the faux wrap top, that I was certain I had to have that pattern. 

The fabric is a gorgeous double knit, very easy to work with in a print, that reminds me of stars and nebulae. And I was lucky to have just the perfect color fabric for the trims.

I chose size M for my mother and I made the gown without any corrections, but for some 3 cm, which I added to the length as my mother wanted her gown almost ankle long.

I already sent the gown and she tried it. The sizing is perfect, but the neck-opening is to wide for her liking, so I will have to take it in next time and I have given her some suggestions how to remedy the gown I've sent her. And there will be a next time - I am already planning another nightgown for her, but a short-sleeved version out of lighter material for the summer.

Pattern: Love Notions Tranquil Collection

Size: M, elongated by 3 cm

Fabric: cotton double knit, 1.5 m

Time to make: 4 days

I am so in love with the trim details on this gown, that I definitely plan to make myself a blouse, using the same pattern. Not that I need many new blouses, but ... maybe I do :)

Movie Night Pajamas IV and V

As I've mentioned, the Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam, a free pattern!, is my absolutely favourite pajama pattern. I had already made two of these for myself and one for Gaby and I knew I wanted more of these. Last week, while fabric hunting, I came upon a 2.5 m precut piece of viscose knit, which looked perfect for a pajama set with its deep dark blue and purple colors and yellow moon-like circles. Fitting two full size pairs of pajamas into a piece of fabric 2.5 m at 1.4 m width was a bit tricky and I had to play quite a lot of pattern tetris, but I was successful in the end, without having to resort to compromises.

The original pattern comes with two necklines - crew neck and scoop neck with or without plackets. So far I've always made my pajama tops with plackets - probably the most difficult and time consuming feature of the pajamas. Although the plackets are operational, I never unbutton them, but I consider them essential for the esthetics of the pajamas, otherwise the set would look to me like a simple T-shirt with a pair of leggins (which it basically is :).

From experience I found that the scoop neck is a bit too low for my taste and the crew neck is a little too high, so my Goldilocks neckline is somewhere in between the original two necklines. I made both of the pajama sets identical, with the middle ground neckline and a placket, the only difference is the color of the buttons (yellow for Gaby) and the length of the pieces - full size for Gaby and 2-3 cm shorter for myself.

I believe both of us have pajamas to last us the year:), but this last one is definitely my favourite!

Movie Night Pajamas III

I am very much a morning person and my most favourite and cherished part of the day is the time for my cup of coffee, a piece of cake and a book or, more often lately, daily Duolingo exercises. From spring to late autumn I drink my coffee on the small balcony, overlooking the green area behind our building, still in my pajamas. 

This year I found a free pajama pattern - the Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seams, which checks all the boxes for me. The upper part is practically a T-shirt and the bottoms are leggings - just as I like them. I already sewed one pair for Gaby and one for myself and yesterday I finished my second pair. I've been looking for a suitable knit fabric for the pajamas all summer long and in the end I gave up on the idea that I could have it all - a print I like and fabric texture and quality I want, so I decided to make a compromise with the print. The fabric I bought from a new for me fabric shop downtown is very soft and smooth cotton knit with lycra, simply divine to wear and I think I can live with the busy print.

Pattern: Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam

Size: 0-2, shortened

Fabric: cotton knit with lycra

Time to make: 2 days

And because I don't want to lose the recipe of the cake I made last night, here it is:

Products:

• 2 average apples, peeled and grated
• 2 eggs
• 200 g sugar
• 120 g milk
• 60 g vegetable oil
• 200 g flour
• 15 baking powder
• 100 g dry fruits and raisins 
• 50 g walnuts
• cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg or other spices
  

Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the milk and oil. Sift the flour with the baking powder and gradually add to the wet mixture. Fold in the dry fruits, cut into small pieces, the raisins and nuts and the grated apples. Add the spices, stir and pour into a baking form. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C until a test toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy with coffee or tea!

 

Leopard Tunic

I watched and read quite a few disappointed reviews of the latest Burdastyle magazine 06 / 2021, but for me this is one of the best issues lately. I want to sew at least five or six of the patterns and I was lucky to win three of them free by participating in a survey on the Burda ru site. 

My first make is top # 114. I had a piece of rayon knit, a fairly large remnant from a Movie Night Pajamas I made for myself two months ago. I'm definitely not an animal print person and this fabric wouldn't have been my first choice if it wasn't for its tempting price (it was on discount) and super soft and stretchy texture. I do not regret sewing my pajamas for a minute, they are definitely the most comfy PJ I've ever had and frankly - my preferred piece of clothing, if only I could stay in my pajamas all day :)))

I hate to throw away fabric and I try to use up all of my remnants, so I was saving the remaining leopard print for probably a t-shirt of some sorts, but hadn't gotten to it. And when I won the three Burda patterns, it occurred to me that the leopard rayon knit would be ideal for a wearable muslin for  top #114.

The top, which is the shortened version of dress #113, the actual pattern I got, is tailored and features a gathered bust area. As I am fairly slim and small busted, such dress design is very flattering on me and I plan to make at least two more versions of this pattern - a short black dress and a long flower print dress. I don't have the fabrics for neither of these future dresses, but that's my plan, anyway.

As Burda patterns are made for height 168 and I am 156 cm and I have narrow shoulders and back, I had to make quite a few mods on the pattern:

• I shortened both the front and the back by 2 cm above the waist
• I shortened additionally the back by 2 cm at the level of the arm opening
• I eliminated the dart at the back neckline
  
• I narrowed the back by straightening the line from the waist to the neck
  

Trying to match my animal print to the texture of the rocks around :)

Pattern: Burda top #114 06/2021

Size: 36, modified

Fabric: rayon knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

 

This is the Movie Night Pajamas I made for myself from the same fabric, I can't recommend enough this free and supercomfy pattern!

And because I still had some scraps, I made a pair of bikinis for myself as well, using Megan Nielsen's Acacia pattern and two different types of elastic for the finishing. Ever since I bought my serger I haven't bought a single pair of undies (blushing) I love sewing them from scraps, they take so little fabric and are such fun to make!

Movie Night Pajamas

A few lounge wear items I made recently for Gaby - Love Notion's Leggin's size 14 and the top of Women's Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam.

I had been eyeing this yellow butterfly bamboo knit for a while specifically with these pajamas in mind and when I finally decided that I like it enough  - it was gone, just about a meter left. I bought the remnant and made the top of the pajamas, but now I'll have to find a matching fabric for the bottom. 

I chose the crew neck with the placket style and long sleeves, but I don't think I'll be making more pajamas with buttons - so much work for nothing. Still, I wanted to experiment with the placket as I also bought a piece of fabric, intended for a t-shirt with a placket, so the practice on these pajamas was definitely useful.

Pattern: Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam

Size: 0-2, shortened

Fabric: 100% bamboo knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

I had about 30-40 cm of fabric left, so I made a matching bikini.

Pattern: Acacia by Megan Nielsen

Size: 0 

Fabric: 100% bamboo knit

Time to make: 1 day

More January Sewing

I was very productive in January and I did a bit of selfless sewing too. I forgot to take a picture of the blouse I made for my mother and I already sent it away, but here are a few pics with notes on the other stuff I made.

Alex requested a new set of bedding and a new pair of pajamas and I was only happy to oblige. The new bedding is 100% cotton ranforce (high quality cotton bed linen fabric) - flat sheet with elastic, duvet cover and two pillow cases. The pajama set (the blue color on the first picture is the true color) is made out of cotton knit using the Movie Night Pajamas pattern by Sew a Little Seam.

Pattern: Movie Night Pajamas 

Size:  SM

Fabric: cotton knit, 1.9 m

Time to make: 2 days

I also made a pair of leggings for Gaby, using the free children's pattern by Love Notions. Although they are labeled for children, size 14 is actually pretty big and can easily fit a slim (xs or s) woman.

Pattern: Leggin's by Love Notion

Size: 14

Fabric: cotton with lycra

Time to make: 1 day 

And a few phone pictures from my stroll through our park yesterday - the weather warmed abruptly (10C according to the thermometer on the building across the street) and all the snow of the previous week turned the park into a bog. But it was so pleasantly warm and it smelled like spring. I can't wait for the winter to be over, I want some green already!

Cowl Neck Top

Several very awkward flat pictures of a top I managed to make for Gaby at the end of 2020. It is a sort of a Frankenstein of ideas and pieces I borrowed from various patterns and with some minor issues it did turn out fairly nicely.

The basis for the top is my true and tried basic Shkatulka short sleeve top, which I have used for a number of modifications now, as I know how it fits us both. The inspiration for this top came from a video by Stitched up!, one of my favourite sewing vloggers. I followed the instructions word for word and I think they are quite legit, however the neck opening of the starting pattern should be much wider than that of the Shkatulka top. For the cowl neck to drape beautifully it needs width at the neck, so a closed up crew neck is not a good option. Тhis is my only issue with the resulting top - the cowl does not drape enough, it is more similar to a boat neck. Next time I will start from a scoop neck; we live to learn :)

The original Shkatulka has a simple short sleeve and I wanted bishop sleeves, so I took the sleeves of another top I made this year - blouse 101 from Burda 03 / 2020. For this purpose I constructed a new sleeve with the cap of the Shatulka, continuing into the bishop sleeve of the Burda blouse, but shortened and attached to a sleeve cuff.

The side gathering of the blouse was an inspiration from another Burda pattern I bought, but I still haven't made - blouse 103 from Burda 08 / 2020. For the gathering I used black elastic thread in the lower bobbin of the sewing machine and I am truly happy with how it all came out.

Gaby wore the blouse on New Year's eve in combination with the plaid pleated skirt I made for her and I think she looked gorgeous. Pity we couldn't take any nice modeled pictures - before we knew it time flew and she had to catch her plane back to Prague, so I had to quickly take a few flat photos of the blouse literally a couple of hours before her departure.

And another flat picture - my first finished sewing project for 2021. I had plenty of the french terry with the butterflies, so I made another pajama top. This is the same pattern and almost the same top as the pajamas I made at the end of December, the only difference is the shorter sleeve cuffs and the added bottom cuff - I actually like this version better than the first. And I love to use up all of the fabric. Now that I am through with this french terry, I can move on to something new and more exiting. I actually just cut it, but more about it next time :)

Butterfly Pajamas

Last month I bought about 1.2 m of french terry in a colorful butterfly pattern. The fabric looked very beautiful in the shop and I imagined it as a light hoodie for Gaby. I even bought a pattern of a cute hoodie from Grasser.ru. However, instead Gaby requested a new pair of pajamas, as her flat in Prague is rather cold. My fabric was not sufficient for the top and the bottom of a PJ pair, so I went back to the fabric shop in search of a coordinating fabric for the bottom. Gaby wanted it in blue, but all the suitable fabrics were not blue and all the blue fabric was not suitable for pajama bottoms, so in the end I bought a meter of ponte in this purple color.

For the top of the pajamas I used my true and tried Shkatulka top with some minor corrections in height and extended width, as this french terry is not very elastic. I have a decent amount of fabric left, almost enough for a second top, but I am hesitant, as i don't think the fabric is suitable for PJs and I should have probably stuck with my initial plan to make a hoodie out of it.

The PJ bottoms are the personalized pajama style pattern I got last summer from lekala.com. The ponte is a bit softer and the bottoms are not that bad, but the whole color and fabric choice is overall very wrong. The color scheme is childish in an unflattering way and I don't think the PJ will get much wear. 

But! Today I acquired the ultimate PJ pattern (IMHO) - just what I was looking for - the Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam and my hands are itching to make a proper pair of PJs. Can't wait for Monday, when the fabric shops will be open again!