One of the projects I'd like to get started on when I get back from Maine is to begin laying away some Christmas gifts for my nieces. My dream is to give them some lovely old-fashioned flannel or muslin nightgowns - matching, of course! I can picture just the thing in my mind... The problem: I'm no seamstress. And practically the only girls' nightgowns you see out there these days are those dreadful polyester gowns screenprinted with one character or another. I can crochet a mean trim, though, and have some vintage pattern books with trims that would look just darling around the cuffs or neckline of a little girl's nightgown. So I'd like to find some basic flannel gowns that could use a little embellishment. Lands' End offers a red flannel gown that might work and Vermont Country Store has a floral gown in stock with an eyelet trim. Have any of you eagle-eyed shoppers seen gorgeous girls' nightgowns out there lately? Kitten will be just a few days shy of three this Christmas and Poppet will be 19 months old. (Gotta catch 'em while they're young with these matching outfits!)
As for us grown up girls, here are some of the 1940s nightgowns I've been coveting for myself lately. Can you tell I'm longing for cold winter nights?
Marjorie:
You won't believe how wonderfully my prune whip turned out last night.
Helen:
It can't possibly be better than mine, dear. Bill can't get enough!
Even the pajamas are pretty! I adore the floor-length rayon nighties with the lacy trim and plunging necklines. And the cable-knit bed jacket looks so soft...
Mustn't let the milkman catch us in our night things! A robe (or two or three) should do the trick. Check out the military influence in the red piece below. It was offered by Ward's for Christmas 1944:
No vintage night ensemble is complete without a pair of slippers. Sears offered slippers in every shape imaginable. It looks like blues and plums, crimson and dusty rose were the colors of the season in 1947.
