So Rita, over at Cemetarian, has THREE of this pattern to give away:
And I don't blame her, if I had this in my house I'd give it away, too. So, speaking of things you give away at holiday time, if you actually WANT one of these patterns, leave a comment about the best/worst/funniest/most inappropriate holiday present you've ever received. I'll choose three comments on Boxing Day (or soon thereafter) and forward the winners' details to Rita.
One Christmas where my mom gave me the three nicest things out of the Tweeds catalog (remember that?) and I wore each piece (two blouses and a skirt, I think) all to shreds. As for bad Christmas presents … looking at this pattern, even the most head-scratchingly bad presents I ever got pale in comparison.
So, c'mon, spill! Tell us about the ex-boyfriend who gave you a pack of gum (with one stick missing, on December 26th) or the best friend who knew that all you really wanted was two hours to go to a movie … and who got you the ticket and showed up to babysit. You will brighten the holidays of all who read the comments, and possibly get a copy of this pattern … to inflict on someone else, NEXT Christmas.
A Dress A Day 
This might be too much information, but I had to comment on the granny night gown…a few months ago my aunt gave me three large night gowns, which I thought would be comfortable in my pregnant state. However, I did feel bad for my husband, not knowing how he would feel about them. Any way, every night I wore one to bed my husband would ask if I was wearing underwear, which I was. So one night I went to bed sans underwear and to keep this somewhat G rated I’ll just say it was quite a night. Apparently he loves the night gown idea and the um, accessibility they allow. I am now on a search for pretty night gown patterns as the Big Dog ones from my aunt just don’t seem quite right for the occasion.
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Yes Basnight – my husband loves them too! Aren’t men strange??My worst present was from a close friend. We’d been best friends for 4 years, lived together at Uni etc. On my birthday I opened a very small present to find….a biro.Yes, a 23p pen. She wasn’t broke either, because 2 days later she spent 1000 on clothes. And its not like I’d expressed any desire to have another biro (or even a fountain pen which would have been a lot more cool!)For the next 10 years another friend and I sent each other novelty pens just to continue the joke!
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Dude! I love those pants – Ive made myself 2 of them, but I never knew there was a commercial pattern for them – I always called them faux Thai wrap pants and drafted my own patterns for them .Aaaand this Christmas I got a food vacuum sealer. Which I have used once, and my husband more than a dozen times. I wonder who that gift was REALLY for…
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Some of these are terrible! My poor mother tries, but she’s really a terrible gift-giver. I think my gift two years ago is the best/worst ever. As a child I wanted to be a ballerina SO.BAD and asked for lessons constantly, but instead was given music lessons. Which in the end was probably the right thing because I have musical talent but not dance aptitude (hyperextended knees, get dizzy just turning my head, no balance, etc etc etc). But still.So for Christmas when I was THIRTY TWO years old my mother gave me…a dollar store ballerina figurine. I do not do knick knacks, period. And…a ballerina figurine? From the dollar store? For a 32 year old woman? I couldn’t get rid of her because my mom was sure to ask about her the next time she visited me, so I had to find some way to embrace her. I gave her a blog. http://gretchenthehouseholddeity.blogspot.com (Please do not enter me for the pants, though. That’s one vintage pattern I can resist!)
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Worst Christmas present ever? A couple of years ago I was in the hospital and undergoing very intensive chemo to save my life from the cancer that was threatening to kill me at every turn. My hair had been gone for a while and everyone I was in contact with was warned that because of my allergies to everything under the sun, they had to be extra diligent to ensure they didn’t tempt fate.Now…my sister in law and I don’t exactly get along. We don’t have anything in common and when I became part of my now husbands family she went into an only child attention fit. I’m certain she thinks I’m an abrasive bitch. But we make a point of having nothing to do with one another in general to avoid clashing. It works well.However this particular Christmas….with my hair gone and myself essentially living in a bubble….I got a small homemade gift basket. With hair clips (I’ve never had long hair to begin with) and dollar store soap full of all the ingredients that my body has never been able to cope with and would definitely cause my body to have a very nasty allergic reaction.My now husband had to trash the basket moments after I opened it, doctors had to be alerted in case I had a reaction, and the nurses made a point of hustling her out in the blink of an eye.I still can’t figure out if she was merely ignorant, or attempting to do harm (at least emotionally), but suffice it to say, we haven’t spoken with her since. I sort of laugh about it now, because I’m here to laugh, but at the time it was….nothing less than shocking.
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The worst present ever WAS this pattern made by my mother for me. She had never sewn anything although I was a sewer and she made it in a horrible, horrible print BY HAND so of course I had to wear it. Best present ever was always what my dad gave me -searched high and low for something unique like a mercury glass hand that modeled gloves that i still have 40 years later!
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I was engaged to a guy (didn’t work out thankfully) that gave me an adorable Valentine’s gift bag with something nice and cute (not memorable though) inside. I mentioned something about it being from his mom and sister. He said, “How did you know?” It was right on the gift tag. I think his mom knew him pretty well. He’d been planning to pass it off as from himself! Another time he brought me bottles of juice when I was extremely weak and bed-bound with a horrible flu. It wasn’t until weeks later that I found out they were from my own mother! She asked me how I’d liked them. He’d tried to take credit for those too!JenL
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The worst Xmas present I ever got was actually quite thoughtful….just dreadfully WRONG (wrong wrong) for me.My suburban stepmother was visiting me in Manhattan with my dad in tow, and perhaps thinking I must be cold during the winters, got me a nice, new, heavy coat. All perfectly innocent, so far. But I am 5’8″ (rather short, for a guy), and this was a VIOLENTLY acid-washed denim, knee-length, lumberjack style jacket with BRIGHT white, puffy fleece lining. With tabs and zippers all over it. And the cherry on the sundae? An inexplicable Mandarin collar, to boot. I just can’t tell you how awful it was!I was an actor who usually appeared in dignified classical plays at the time, plus I worked as a wardrobe supervisor between jobs, and at that stage of my life I either wore khaki slacks with white linen shirts and loafers (summer) or ALL BLACK (winter). That was IT! So this acid-washed demin jacked/slipcover was just UNwelcome. Not to mention unflattering. I literally went cold when I saw it. Horror. I wouldn’t have minded seeing it on someone else, really…I was just very insecure and self-conscious in my 20’s, and I gravitated toward very simple, quiet, classic clothes. And I could not see myself in this getup.Still, I knew there was no way I could not wear it to lunch the next day, so I picked a place 5 blocks from my house and slunk over there in it, hunched over and with my eyes on the pavement the whole way. My stepmother was all excited and showed me all the special clasps and zippers all over again once I got there. The jacket quickly went on the back of my chair, and I relaxed.I WILL say this; it was very warm. And given with the best of intentions. But, it went to a consignment store after my parents left town. I don’t think anyone else ever bought it. You could pick up your items 90 days later if you hadn’t received a check, and I didn’t hear from them…and I never went back.
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The cruelty of some parents. It’s so widespread!
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Basnight, don’t limit yourself to nightgown patterns! Anything you sleep in becomes, ipso facto, nightwear. Any comfy dress pattern, any blouse pattern extended to floor length (such as a peasant blouse or chemise pattern), even evening dress patterns, are perfectly appropriate, whether you like flannel, cotton, corduroy or silk! I actually like 30s evening gown patterns – heck, I like 30s nightgown patterns for dresses! But if you’d like a pattern for the old-fashioned nightgown, Folkwear Patterns carries one. It makes sense to make your own nighties – a third of your life (in theory) is spent sleeping, and thrashing around in bed gives nightclothes pretty hard wear.And nightgowns are perfect when that’s all you want to wear so that body parts can breathe, too. They can be much more flattering than jammies, and more comfortable, too! I actually bought several “beach coverups” on sale – slightly fitted, floor-length T-shirts – which are alternate nightgowns.
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