The Lexington Nightdress

When I received this fabric from Minerva, I knew right away that it would be perfect for a nightgown or something like that. Then I saw the pattern for the Lexington nightdress and a match was made! The pattern for this make is from Sewing And The City Patterns. It is a downloadable PDF pattern that includes the following:

a short pajama set
a long pajama set
this nightdress/night shirt

The Lexington Nightdress is designed for woven fabrics and could be made from something very luxurious, like silk. It’s described as having a 90’s inspired silhouette that’s feminine and sporty.

The fabric I used was gifted to me by Minerva Fabrics. You can check out my post for this on their site as well here. This is a lightweight cotton that washes and dries well. It’s great for craft projects as well as something like this. The name of the fabric is called “philosophers dreams”. How perfect is that for a nightdress/nightshirt? Quotes from different philosophers are printed on the fabric.

Sewing and the City Lexington nightdress back

I like that this pattern is pretty straightforward and easy to make. I made this in a size based on my measurements. It is a good fit, especially considering it is something that I wouldn’t want to be tight. The only change I made was to move the very last button to the top of the shirt. I made no other changes to the pattern.

Styling the nightdress

But, since I like to style things different ways, I decided to try that with this nightdress/nightshirt as well.

Sewing And The City Lexington nightdress with leggings

This can be worn over a pair of leggings as I did above.

Or you can use it as a cover up for casual loungewear as I did in this photo. In fact, you could make an entire loungewear set with this one pattern (something I might end up doing). I think this pattern is easy enough for a beginner or certainly, an advanced beginner.

Here is a close up of the material:

close up of Minerva fabric for Lexington nightdress

I would definitely recommend this pattern. There are so many options that you can mix and match with the different pieces. And depending on your fabric choices, you can make something really casual or really luxurious.

The Moneta Knit Dress

This is another one of those patterns that I’ve had for years but never made. The Colette Patterns Moneta knit dress (discontinued) pattern always seemed like a practical and easy to wear dress to me. So, I finally did it. In order to get the fit I wanted on the Moneta knit dress, I had to do quite a lot of work and make more than a few changes. I’ll take you through what I did in case you need to do the same either for this pattern, or another.

The Changes

Here’s a quick list of the changes:

lengthened the bodice by about 2″
widened the bodice at the bottom by about 1/2″
redrafted the pockets to make them bigger (more useable)
added a neckband
widened the sleeves by 1″
did a FBA (full bust adjustment)

While this list seems like a lot, I was determined to have a wearable, knit dress that is comfortable, versatile and makes me feel good when I put it on.

I noticed when I made a muslin (sadly it didn’t end up being a wearable muslin) that the waist seam hit me in the ribs, which I find very annoying. That’s the reason made the bodice longer. I wanted something that would be closer to my waistline. This is a common adjustment I’ve been doing for most dresses that have a waist seam. Here’s another example.

I also needed to make the bodice wider at the bottom so it wasn’t tight. The pattern size is an XL, by the way. Often garments with negative ease are too negative (which makes them tight).

I will check the finished garment measurements for knit patterns so I can adjust to my comfort level.

Another adjustment I had to make with this pattern is the width of the sleeves. This was something new for me. I also don’t have big arms/biceps, so I don’t know why they were so uncomfortably tight. I had to look in one of my sewing books to learn how to adjust for this, since I’ve never done this before. I’ll leave a link below to the book I referenced.

sleeve alteration pattern piece — What the sleeve piece looks like now

The Results

Once I got everything worked out, I I made this blue dress above. I also made this brown dress (from knit fabric I bought at JoAnn’s).

I often find it easier to make a second garment when I can right after the first one. The pattern is already out and I’ve gotten my fit adjustments done, so why not? I won’t cut two out at the same time though.

I’m very happy with the final results and I feel like I have a dress that is really customized to me and my preferences.

Let me know if you’ve made this dress (it’s an older pattern). Do you make so many changes that the pattern is almost your own creation? 😂

The book I referenced for these changes:

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Making a Raglan Sleeve Top

Making a raglan sleeve top can be a little confusing at first if you haven’t done it before. I have made a few, but I always have to take my time to make sure I attach the sleeve in the right spot. For this top, I used this Kwik Sew pattern 4041. I used some fabric I’ve had for (many) years.

With a raglan sleeve, the sleeve extends to the neckline/collar in one piece. So, there’s no traditional shoulder seam. I hadn’t used this pattern before, but this is one that I had picked up in a recent pattern haul.

Although this is an easy pattern to make, this first one took quite a while because I needed to match the stripes. I sewed a size large for this one, but it was a bit too large for me.

So, I wanted to make this again because I do like the style. Since I had traced the pattern, it was easy to trace again and make a size medium. I used some leftover fabric I had in my fabric stash and made the next one.

I think this is a much better fit. I used some leftover Minerva fabric for the body and black ribbed knit for the sleeves. This is a quick top to make when I don’t have to match up any stripes! The black and gray top took me about two hours to make.

On the pattern envelope you can see that this is a wider neckline. With that in mind, if you prefer something that’s not quite as wide, I would choose a different pattern. Because of how raglan sleeve tops are made, I would not want to go through the work of altering this particular pattern. I would just choose a different pattern design.

But my original navy blue and green striped is definitely wearable. I simply wear it with a T-shirt or tank underneath. The black and gray is warm and very comfortable (you know I like comfort).

The majority of the time, I do use my serger when I sew knits. I just love how the seams look and hold together when finished off with this. But if you’ve never sewn knits before, or don’t own a serger, not to worry.

You can simply use a zigzag stitch to sew the seams and that will give you the stretch you need for the seams.

I love sewing and wearing knit garments. They are comfortable to wear, easy to pack when traveling and easy to care for. Here’s a previous post on some other knit top patterns I’ve made.

Let me know if you sew knits or are you a bit apprehensive about it? It’s a process that can be much easier than you think!

Here’s a book that I find is full of helpful information and inspiration:

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