Returning and repetitious gifts

I love sewing with flannel. It's soft and it doesn't slip around as you're sewing it. You hardly need to pin it. And it's not so thick that my machine has any issues. And it's soft.

I wasn't at all displeased that Laura needed new pajamas for Christmas. She really needs them right now, but she'll have to wait.


I often don't buy patterns, preferring to hack things together with what I know of gathering and sleeve shape and stuff. Or Burda has a great site with free patterns and up-cycled clothes. I use it in the same way I use recipes. They are just the kickstart and inspiration I need to go and do my own thing.

But this pajama and nightgown pattern I have used and used and used. I bought it two years ago when Beth was Raggedy Anne in our Sunday School Christmas play. I figured that if I was going to have to sew a dress for her, it would have to be useful for more than one night. I made a blue nightgown that she hiked up for production and wore an apron over, and bloomers under it. The poor girl was so hot! However, it was a great nightgown and Laura is now wearing it.

Last year I offered a homemade Christmas gift exchange to a group of women. I would make nightgowns for anyone in exchange for whatever skill/craft/art they could come up with. I made 9 nightgowns in sizes from 2 to 14 (and then one for myself) in exchange for mead, cards, homemade buns and other homemade gifts. It was an awesome idea.

Today one of those nightgowns was returned to me for repair. The gift didn't really come with a service warrantee, but that's okay. And I made two nightgowns again this year as gifts for another friend.

Laura wore last year's PJs all year (even in the summer because they were thinning by then) and they are threadbare now. The pants are actually gone, having been turned into hankies once they started ripping in places not easily repaired. Although she has the Raggedy Ann nightgown now, she prefers PJs with pants. So this is her gift this year.

Maybe the wintery design will discourage summertime wear and she'll get two years out of this pair. We'll see. I am grateful that she likes my homemade gifts and doesn't lust after the store-boughten ones.

And did I tell you that they're soft? I love flannel.