Over the years I’m guessing I have probably made and sold close to 500 flannel night gowns and pajama sets for dolls. I have searched and searched for some of those older pictures, but have only been able to retrieve a handful of them. I used to sell the sets at my local Farmer’s Market and each week I would always sell out of the nightgowns. The sets consisted of a nightgown, a pair of fuzzy slippers and usually a teddy bear. They were very popular with the little girls and at Christmas time… oh, my goodness, I couldn’t keep up with the orders.
I have this “thing” for flannel and one time as we were traveling I stopped at a little mom and pop store and they had their flannel on sale… Well, I “HAD” to buy some… and buy I did…over 100 yards of it.
You may have seen this picture when I did the post on my “Cabbage Patch” adventures. I just wanted to show it because it is pretty representative of how my flannel sets looked…
I used my daughters American Girl doll to model all my nightgowns way back when… Here are a few of those sets, one shown with a “little girl” nightgown to match.
Here is a Taz nightgown set…
Molly looks pretty cute in her bright yellow butterfly PJ’s…
…and my littlest model is 7-1/2″ Riley in her cotton nightgown…take a look at those tiny slippers…less than 1 inch long!
Don’t you feel all cozy-like and warm right now?
Oh, just one more thing… yesterday I posted some pictures of some more of my favorite Christmas dresses. The one on my Wren Kish doll was a favorite of mine and it caught one of my readers attention. She shared this story with me and I wanted to share it with you all…
“I wanted to comment on the adorable holly dress. You said you can’t find that material anymore? That is too bad because it is a beautiful pattern of material. That material reminded me of a family story though and something I had not thought about for years. I’d like to share it with you since it’s a fun story.
My mother always loved holly. She was a December baby and should have been named Holly. Anyway, she always used holly to decorate our house for Christmas. She was very handy and artistic when decorating. One special little tradition she and I had was we always wrapped our gifts to each other in holly designed Christmas paper. One Christmas, she found this gorgeous holly wrapping paper and used it for my gift. I saved it and used it for her gift the next year. She and I did that for years and this beautiful holly wrapping paper got cut a little bit here and became a little wrinkled there and a little used looking but we continued to use it year after year. I think this started in the late 70’s or early 80’s. The holly paper looked a lot like the holly material you are looking for and it made me think of this fun thing my mother and I use to do. I still have what is left of the holly paper only I don’t use it. My mother passed away last December after 8 years of living with dementia, then Alzheimer’s and in your quest for finding the holly material, it made me think of the holly paper story and the fun my mom and I had using it over the years. Christmas always brings out the most wonderful memories!”
Wasn’t that a wonderful story? Thanks “P.”
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
That was a heartwarming story. 🙂 I did a holly cotton search at fabric dot com and there quite a few that came up. This one came out and stood out to me. It might be a bit big, but you might be able to find something to work for you. Enjoy your day. 🙂 https://www.fabric.com/buy/0338352/holiday-accents-classics-2014-holly-metallic-cream?cm_vc=756b1813-cbc1-43b3-84bd-29889bf8fb7b
Thanks Christine,
I’ll have to check out your link to Fabric. com… just what I need; more fabric…
Thanks so much!
blessings, Jeanne
No problem. We all need more fabric, right? LOL 🙂
I love all the jammies! I also am a flannel fanatic. Growing up in the north {MN}, flannel was definitely our friend in the winter. We always received a flannel nightie to sleep in on Christmas Eve. I continued that tradition with my own children.
The story about the holly wrapping paper is just lovely. I understand how seeing that holly fabric would tug at the heart. Very sweet.
Jeannie,
It’s funny… I love to sew flannel, but I can’t stand it for myself… it’s too hot for me. I sleep all year round in a thin little cotton knit night shirt, no matter if it’s hot or cold…same thing. But I love to make night gowns and little pajama sets out of it. There are SO many fun prints at JoAnn’s right now… but I just can’t!!!
Thanks so much Jeannie,
blessings, Jeanne
I always love your doll clothes. Especially love the pjs.
Judi
Thanks Judi,
Seeing these nightgown and Molly’s pj’s has put me in the mood for sewing some nightwear…maybe when I get some more Christmas dresses made, I’ll have time for a few things to sleep in.
blessings, Jeanne
I loved dolls as a little girl. We grew up poor but never thought of ourselves poor. My Mom one Christmas made me dolly dress and a small container of gold safety pins. Then one occasion, I do not remember my Dad made me a wood china hutch about 3 ft. high with shelves to have tea with my dollies. The hutch was yellow and red.
You dolls are so precious. In our local women’s shelter they have a American Doll that can be checked out for one wk. so the little girls have a dolly to play with. It is like checking out a book but a doll 🙂 But there is not enough dolls to go around, but that one dolly must be special to those children.
HI Linda,
It seems like you have been a doll lover your whole life and still have room for more love for them.
I LOVE the idea that your Women’s shelter uses…letting little girls check out dolls to play with for a week.
That is a really special idea!
Blessings, Jeanne