Nightgowns everywhere I look!

Part of our Christmas tradition is to give each of the kids new pajamas on Christmas Eve. I admit I have a ulterior motive here. New pj's on Christmas morning look great in all those pictures you always end up taking while they open their presents.  I can't say I came up with the idea however, that credit would go to my mother. 

 Since we are doing a homemade Christmas you know making pajamas was top of my to do list. I went rooting around my fabric stash to find the ton of flannel I bought last year on Black Friday and never used....when what do I see. A bag with flannel scraps and a pajama pattern envelope. I open the bag and realized that the "scraps" of flannel are actually a night gown already cut out and labeled by my grandmother. A little more digging shows that my mother's name and size were on the pattern instructions.  The date on the pattern? 1970! No that isn't a typo my grandmother cut out these night gown pieces for my mother 40yrs ago! I was floored!  My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was about the same age as my oldest daughter so it just seemed fitting that I finish the gown for my own daughter. 

So here you have a night gown for a little girl cut out by her great grandmother, intended for her grandmother, and sewn by her mother. I will be honest I get a bit teary just thinking about it.

There were other pieces in the bag with the gown above. They however were for what appears to be a maternity gown for my grandmother. That puts the pieces at 1970-1971 when she was pregnant with my Uncle.  Since I don't need a maternity gown and I wanted my second oldest to have a special gown as well I cut the pieces down to make a gown for my 7 yr old as well.  I went with a simpler pattern for this gown. I am not the seamstress my grandmother was but I try.  This pattern was super simple to put together and start to finish I was done in an hour.

 It was so simple I used the same pattern for my three younger daughters as well. I however altered the pattern to leave out the bow tie on the little girls gowns. No need to fret about my little ones strangling themselves in their sleep on the ties.

So there you go, 5 night gowns for 5 little girls all for just the cost of the pattern, $4.  That is quite the deal if you ask me!