
A romantic nightie Butterick B6938
After making this pretty pink nightie for my daughter, I wanted to make something similar for myself. Finally, I decided on Butterick B6838 that is a romantic nightgown with options for sleeves and three different lengths. Of course, I wanted to make the white floor-length Victorian style nightgown complete with decorative pleating and lace.
B6838 pattern details
The pattern comes in two size ranges XS to M and L to XL and it has been rated easy. The project didn’t start very well, since after receiving the pattern, I noticed that I had ordered a wrong size range. Luckily this pattern was quite simple in construction that I finally decided that I could scale it down quite easily.
Materials and sewing
For the fabric, I used white cotton lawn. This pattern required quite a lot of fabric (3 m) but luckily I was able to cut the yoke pieces next to the skirt pieces. I had just the right kind of lace with holes for a ribbon that was very close to the kind of trim used in the envelope picture. Furthermore, I hand-sewed a narrow lace trim to the neckline and the sleeve-ends.

I made French seams at the sides so that they look neat as they show through the sheer fabric. In the pattern instructions, the gathered edge seam was neatly finished by sandwiching the seam allowances between the yoke and the facing but I decided to just overlock the edge and press it towards the yoke.

I kept the original length that came with the view D but I adjusted the length with the two horizontal tucks. The nightgown doesn’t reach all the way to the floor but the way I’m standing on my bed, it looks like that.

The finished nightgown
I think I’d prefer even wider hem but this width was much less fabric consuming. Even like this, the gown drapes nicely and I can feel like a princess when lifting my skirts at the stairs. (Although, I admit that the hems this long are a bit of a tripping hazard.)

With the blue ribbon tie, the B6838 nightgown matches well with my 1940s dressing gown I made a quite a while back:

All in all, this was an easy and fun project and I can recommend this pattern for everyone, beginners included!

Now I can imagine wrap myself in my new nightie and my dressing gown and watching a movie in bed with a cup of hot chocolate!
Thank you for reading and happy sewing! Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog!
Katja


10 Comments
helen Hillier
Lovely job on the nightdress! What pattern did you use for dressing Gown I would love to make. Thanks
kk
That pattern might be a bit difficult to find. It is vintage Advance 953 that I found either on Ebay or Etsy. But good hunting!
PatB
Beautiful, lovely work. I really admire your diversity of creative projects and learning opportunities.
kk
Thanks! I get bored doing the same thing over and over again so I must always find something different!
MICHELLE TULEY
Link to COtton Lawn? Joann didnt know what that was 🙁
kk
Really? Well, the fabric names are so regional! You could try asking for cotton batiste. That’s about the same thing.
Sally Jacob
I love your fabric. By the way, I am sewing this pattern now, but lost the third page. Any chance you could email the third page?
I would so appreciate it.
Sewing in New York City to relieve the stress.
Sally
kk
Thanks! I’m sorry but I gave the pattern away. I hope you can figure it out. As far as I remember it wasn’t a complicated one. Perhaps you could find someone to email the third page on MaCalls’s & Simplicity group on Facebook? Good luck!
Kelsey Drummond
I LOVE this pattern! I did it in jackalope flannel and it’s so cozy!!!
Helen
It’s like you somehow knew I wanted to sew a nightgown! Thank you! I look forward to trying this butterick pattern.