Kaki Christmas Nightgown

Getting ready for Santa begs for a cozy and soft knit nightgown. We made modifications to the bodice, sleeves, and hemline of the Children’s Corner Kaki pattern, and with a broad size range (size 6mo–14) you can make this nightgown for every sugar-plum dreaming girl on your list. We used the beautiful Sea Island knit for this gown.

Supplies

Children’s Corner Kaki pattern Tracing paper 5 groove pintuck foot Fray block Embroidery Floss (6 stranded) Elastic (1/4”) – 1/2 yard

Cutting Instructions

1. For the sleeve, trace the Kaki View A sleeve. Draw a vertical line down the center of the sleeve. Cut on line and spread halves 2" apart to add fullness. Add length to the sleeve, according to the chart. Draw underarm seams straight down. Do not cut the cuff pieces.

2. For the bodice, trace the Kaki View A front bodice and back bodice. Shorten the bodice length according to the chart. On the front bodice, draw a line along the center front line. Cut the neckbands for View A as instructed in the pattern.

3. For the skirt, trace the Kaki View B skirt, and lengthen according to the chart.

4. For skirt ruffles, cut 2 ruffles for the hem of the nightgown. Cut the ruffle using the width from the chart and the length two times the width of the skirt.

5. For the bodice ruffle, cut 1 ruffle for center front. Cut the bodice ruffle two times the length of the bodice by 1 ½” wide for sizes 6mo - 3, 1 ¾" wide for sizes 4 - 7, and 2" wide for sizes 8 – 14. Draw a line lengthwise down the center of the ruffle.

Picot Trim Technique

Use a blind hem stitch and 5-groove pintuck presser foot on your sewing machine. Test your picot trim edge on a scrap, so you can adjust the settings as needed to get the look you desire. The picot trim edge is sewn on the bodice ruffle, sleeves, and skirt ruffle.

1. Press the edges of the fabric a scant ¼” to the wrong side.

2. Use the mirror image function on your machine and adjust the stitch width to 5.0mm and the length to 1.5mm. Increase the top tension on your machine 2-3 settings. If your machine does not have the mirror image function, reverse the instructions.

3. Place the floss in the second from the right groove in the presser foot. Place your fabric to the left of the floss under the presser foot with the wrong side facing up. When starting, hold floss and tails of the machine threads taught behind the presser foot.

4. As you stitch, keep the floss in the groove with the fabric next to it. When the needle swings to the right, it needs to clear the floss. The straight stitches will be on the fabric and the needle will swing off the fabric when it stitches the zigzag. This allows the thread to pull, causing the picot trim edge to form. If your fabric looks “wavy” or stretched out after stitching, use a steam iron and several bursts of steam to shrink it back to a flat edge.

5. If your needle does not clear the floss, continue stitching. When you are finished, go back and tack the lose floss in place by hand.

Construction

1. Sew ruffle to bodice prior step 2. Using a stitch length of 3.5mm, sew two lines of gathering stitches 1/2” from each edge of the bodice ruffle. Gather the bodice ruffle and place on the front bodice center front line. Topstitch between the lengthened stitches following the line. Remove the gathering threads.

2. Continue with steps 2-3.

3. In place of steps 4-6, attach neckband using the method shown in View B using steps 12-14.

4. For step 7, stitch two rows of gathering stitches along the top of the sleeve, instead of one.

Gather the sleeves so that the gathers are concentrated at the top of the shoulder.

5. Before step 9, stitch elastic to sleeve. Draw a line across the bottom of the wrong side of the sleeve 3/4" above the finished edge for sizes 6mo - 4, and 1" from finished edge for sizes 5-14. Cut two pieces of 1/8" wide elastic half the width of the sleeve plus 1”. Place elastic on the line, and tack in place on one side. Following the line, stitch the remaining elastic with a zig zag stitch (width of 5mm and length of 2.5mm) stretching the elastic as you stitch. Make sure that the needle does not catch the elastic on either side. Tack down the other end, and trim if necessary.

6. Continue with step 9 to sew the underarm and side seams. Skip instructions for the cuff.

7. Continue skirt construction with steps 17-20.

8. To finish skirt with ruffle, stitch side seams of ruffle, and finish seams. Sew two rows of gathering stitches from raw edge, the first 1/8” from the raw edge and the second 3/8” from the raw edge. Gather to fit the bottom of skirt. Sew ruffle to skirt with right sides together. Finish seam.

9. Place a drop of Fray block on the ends of the trim after seams have been finished.

Adaptation by Susan Whitman

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