Allie Jackson: A 60's Nightgown

1969 nightgown | allie J. | alliemjackson.com

This super easy sleepwear comes to you straight from 1969!

McCall's 2137 Was one of my very first true vintage patterns. So sassy! I attempted at one point to make it into a dress, but this was way before my sewing skills were up to it. I still think it could make a nice dress, but here I'll focus on its intention as a nightgown. I've had this lovely floaty cotton in my stash for maybe a year. I had meant to make a blouse out of it, but never really liked the pattern for a blouse--the spacing of the flowers was a little bit off, I think. Anyway, I'm glad that I saved it since I think it works perfectly as a sweet little nightgown! And I do mean little--my copy of this pattern was cut off at view C length, and I had to do some modifying to get it even this long.

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This a funny pattern--looking at it, I assumed (and I think most would), that there is a fabric tube inserted through the top and then tied on both shoulders. Nope! What you are supposed to do is insert elastic at the front and back panels, sew it down, then tack the front and back panels together at the shoulder and pop a bow on top. This feature is hidden on views A and C, but notice that the front & back panels on view B go all the way up to the shoulder.

Instead of doing all this, I made a long, self-fabric tie, which solved three issues: it gave me more space around my neck, eliminated fiddling with elastic, and created shoulder straps which in turn lengthened the dress a bit. After all my modifications, this was a crazy easy make; you can definitely make this without the pattern. I'll post a tutorial if there is interest, but it's really so easy.

Do you like wearing menswear-y pajamas sets or nightgowns? Either way, it's nice to feel put together at bed time, it's cute and Laura Petrie-ish (even though my hair isn't as cute as hers at night, let alone 7 in the morning). But pajamas are harder to make!

xoxo,

allie

ps: it is super awkward to take pictures of yourself in your nightgown or slip. you only get two because these were my only poses :)