Remake of the infamous nightgown

When Abbey was about Charlotte's age, she had a frilly little knit nightgown that she wore constantly.  I totally remember her wearing it, even though that had to have been about 15 years ago.  Aunt Kim sent me the nightgown when Charlotte was about 2 years old, and she finally grew into it last summer.  Unsurprisingly, it was an instant hit with Charlotte and she wore it tons.  Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find anything like it in the stores I normally hit for kids' clothes (Target, Meijer, Kohl's, etc.).  The only nighties they had were made of polyester and featured Disney princesses (which knocks the price up $5, of course).  Not cool, dudes.  So, I decided I needed to remake the infamous nightgown (out of an old t-shirt, of course).  Here is the original inspiration:

The tag is so faded that I have no idea what size it is supposed to be or what company made it.

I took my super cute Duke long-sleeved t-shirt (a gift from Corey's Granny and Grandpa) that had an unfortunate hole in it, and added some pink knit from a vintage DG shirt I have had since college.  Viola!

I ruffled the strips of the pink knit by turning up the tension on the machine and setting the stitch length to 6.  Worked like a charm.  I'm terrible at the whole basting stitch and pulling the bobbin thread ruffling technique.  I didn't hem the ruffles because I wasn't sure this whole experiment would work, but I will next time.  If I only had a serger!!!  The inside seams are all unfinished, but I bet I could zigzag up a storm and get them looking a little nicer.  Maybe next time I could sew the sides with French seams, too?  The hardest part was making the bias tape out of this extremely lightweight knit.  That was seriously tedious.

The place where the ruffles on the hem meet is kind of wonky, but I think I can fix that by paying closer attention to their placement.

I had to bribe Charlotte with sherbet to put the nightgown on and go outside for some photos.

At first, she told me we should save the nightgown for her children.  Huh?  After I wrestled it on her and she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the sliding glass door, I think she fell in love with it.  Now she refuses to take it off so I can do some fixing on the raw seams on the inside.

I had better made something for Peter soon or else his little head will explode.  He always says "what 'bout me?" and smiles sweetly whenever I make something for someone else.  Poor little guy.  I also think I need to remake this design as a shirt (with just a straight hem at the bottom).  That would be a fabulous summer shirt for Charlotte and/or Sonia!