Just one more: Boy's Night Shirt

I have this fabric. It's totally cute and adorable. Very boy. Building blocks city scape with vehicles in flannel (city blocks snuggle flannel). What's not to love?

I purchased this fabric during my black Friday online shopping from JoAnn's. I was looking for fabric for the girl, but I knew this would be perfect for the boy.

The problem, one that happens more often than not, is what was I going to make with it? I had no idea.

Because we have a little girl in the house, she will sometimes wear nightgowns to bed, when weather permits. The thing about that is that my son wants to wear a nightgown too. It makes me giggle, it irks my husband. 

I explained to the boy that boys don't wear "nightgowns", but a long time ago they used to wear night shirts, which are like nightgowns, but different (not really).

Christmas came around and I was finishing up projects when the boy mentioned that he wanted a night shirt. 

Light bulb moment people! I had the perfect fabric for this project.

Never mind that Christmas was just a couple of days away, and that I had just finished my projects, and that it was my long week of work, and...

What's one more project during the busy holiday season?

It's for my boy, and he really wants one, and I can make it. 
I can! 
So I did.

ignore the wrinkles.

He was super happy to open it on Christmas day.

He loves it! Makes me happy.

Because this was a gift I couldn't have him try it on while I was working on it. I sort of hacked a pattern I got from a library book, Oliver +S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children by Liesl Gibson. (I use a pattern from the book to make my toddler backpacks as well). There was a pattern for a project called Dressing Gown. It was a child's robe and pants sleep set. I used the pattern for the robe to make the night shirt. The largest size was 4-5. I added to the pattern to make it bigger for my son who was already wearing a 4-5. Since I couldn't try it on him as I went, it was just a big guessing game.

When he first tried it on, it was a bit big. I wanted to make it a bit bigger so that he could wear it another season, at least. 

No worries on the size. He has plenty of room. Time was a factor so I was finishing it up on Christmas Eve. I made a few changes after he opened it at Christmas. 

I added some ribbing for the cuffs of the arms. They were supposed to make the arms tighter at the wrist, but I cut the ribbing exactly the same as the arm holes so it didn't pull it in like I had hoped. I can fix it, but he doesn't care. He has a night shirt to wear.

I had to add a triangle piece of fabric to provide more cover for him. The button is functional, but not at the moment because he had plenty of room for it to fit over his head.

He wears his night shirt whenever he can, hence the wrinkles in the photo, it gets laundered frequently. 

I have one happy boy who has something else to add to his "look what Mommy made me" collection. I like that I can make something for him because there are so many projects on my list to make for my girl that I don't want him to feel left out. His next boy project is making ninja turtle masks. :)