Have you ever fantasized about sitting at a vanity, powdering up before bed in a long bias-cut nightgown with a matching housecoat? I think there’s one such scene in Holiday Inn but I can’t be sure. I was pretty obsessed with that movie’s clothes as a teen, so to me 40s glamour will always mean Ginger Rogers floating around a piano.
I wonder if the lure is not just the glamorous style but the whole concept of a bedtime ritual. The time it takes to undress as much as it takes to dress.
{Carole Lombard}
Then there’s also the long-gone distinction between boudoir and the rest of one’s wardrobe. I mean, how could those beautiful buttons be wasted on sleeping!
When we were first married, D bought me some becoming camisole nighties but they have languished in my closet in favor of the old t-shirts and yoga pants. The thing is, I get cold at night, even in the summer. There was the minky pajama set that I wore to death for two winters straight, but finally threw them away for diplomacy’s sake. They were not D’s favorite, to say the least, and I’ll spare you from the names they suffered. He wants to talk to someone other than a fuzzy potato creature putzing around the house late at night. Fair enough. I want to be warm. It goes back and forth.
I’m trying to come up with some pajama ideas that combine the best of both worlds. Clothes that gives me a hint of that nighttime ritual, feel pretty enough, but still putz-friendly. As much as I love silk, I just don’t like wearing it in bed, so I’m thinking about what I can do with knits.
I have this cotton knit fabric:
Which needs some kind of drapey design for the big swashy print. For the top, I like this popular pattern from New Look, with the kimono sleeves and hip bands:
But I don’t need a new pattern to do this. It looks so easy to draft and I’ve already created a batwing-like top from my Lydia t-shirt pattern. It would just need a few modifications.
For the bottoms, I waded through all my Burda issues and found a couple elasticated waist pants that are slightly wide-legged. This is from the November 2009 issue, made for a woven but I’m sure would do fine in a knit:
I also have this Kwik Sew pattern but I think these bottoms with that top might be a bit too banded and harem-ish? Perhaps I’ll save this pattern for another pajama experiment.
Do you ever get in a pajama rut? Do you keep your night clothes separate from day clothes?
A Year of Sewing Burda
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Even to those abroad who don’t celebrate… it really is a lovely holiday. No pressure. Just sitting around eating and drinking with friends and family. I normally go mad cooking and baking but this year I’m only on pumpkin pie duty. I get to sloth around in PJs until late afternoon, so spent some of my free time organizing patterns.
Our lovely postman brought me the new Burda yesterday. A good mail day! It’s the only magazine to which I subscribe–the rest of the mailbox is just junk (well, bills). The last few issues have really caught my eye; I’ve been inspired by the way they’ve been on top of all the urban leather and faux fur trends lately.
My fave has to be this persian lamb cocoon-like coat.
(My late grandmother had a groovy couch upholstered in this stuff so I’m partial to it.)
A great leather top à la Isabel Marant:
Leather shorts and chiffon blouse, yum:
I still love Burda mostly for its design point of view–or just that it risks having one from time to time. The great thing about sewing, of course, is the ability and freedom to shift a pattern’s style to your own, regardless of a pattern company’s aesthetic or demographic. But I still like to be inspired by design rather than having to re-imagine it.
Still, getting a new Burda gave me some pause. The magazine alone adds exponentially to my pattern list! And I’m probably at the point, as I’m sure many sewers get to, where I feel a bit overwhelmed by the project wish list (and my pattern collection). So I decided to weed stuff out this week. It might be Ebay time.
So I went through a year’s worth of Burdas and made a big Evernote catalogue of all the patterns I liked. I weeded out those that felt like repeats, and some of the statement pieces. I always get drawn to the crazy cover styles, but I think I need fewer fantasy garments on my sewing list. I kept all the ones I’ve already traced. That still left about 15!
I’ve only been sewing from these magazines for just a little over a year. Looking back, there was the Number Six Dress:
Which, by the way, gets the most search referrals to the site. No, not sewing. Battlestar. (Hello, Cylons!)
The silk shorts (sadly I traced and made the wrong size! but they were beautiful to look at!):
The drapey white shirt:
My silk tank was a recent Burda make, and I’ve nearly finished two other garments (just waiting for my serger to come back from repairs!).
Two years ago I’d never even heard of Burda. All I had known back in my first sewing life were the mainstream pattern companies. Since then I’ve been a rabid collector of patterns far and wide. Over the past year I dove into Marfy, Colette, Sewaholic, Hotpatterns, and several other little off-the-beaten-path pattern makers. I mean, I have Sewing Pattern ADD.
Every pattern company fits so differently, and I’d really love to focus on understanding fit more in the next season of my sewing, rather than acquire new patterns. I’d like to keep sewing from Burda especially, mostly for their designs, but need to work out their sleeve shaping and bust fit. The Burda sleeve caps and armscyes are quite high and narrow compared to other patterns, which sometimes looks odd on more casual shirts.
Truth be told, I love the idea of having on hand my own blocks (tnts, what have you) to work out my own designs, and have already worked from a Burda t-shirt to design several top styles. Maybe that will be what the next season of sewing is all about for me!
And before I leave this post, I’ll add that I’m very very thankful for the amazing and colorful man next to me. I’m glad we found each other. He’s almost as much of a fashion nut than I am. He’s a theatrical character and makes everything brighter around him. (He screeches Bob Dylan and Broadway tunes at the top of his lungs every morning to wake up.) Someday I’ll introduce him, but in the spirit of Tasia’s recent post, I am thankful that he supports my crazy sewing habits.