Rather Than Toss, Repurpose!

Now that sheet-sets are so popular, it’s hard to find individual sheets for sale. If you want 100% cotton and a decent thread count, it’s almost impossible. Unfortunately, the bottom sheet tends to wear out well before the top, leaving you with a big piece of useless fabric. It ends up as a drop cloth or gets ripped into rags, shoved in a drawer or in the trash—what a waste!

I love cotton nightgowns—woven, not knit; they are my number-one sleepwear preference. But they too are hard to find—especially at a reasonable cost. I’d sewn my own, but since they require two-plus yards of fabric there’s not much of a savings.

While making up the guest bed, I came across one of the aforementioned lone top sheets. It was a pretty, light blue check from a long-gone set. Eureka! I was getting a new nightgown—and oh would it be soft!

I flipped through my patterns for something that would sew up quick and easy. I did not want to create a masterpiece, just something cute and comfortable to sleep in. I settled on Kwik Sew K3943 combining the body of the gown with the sleeves of the pajama top.

Since the sheet was 15 years old, there was one tiny hole I could not avoid. Undaunted, I cut a few hearts out of some scrap fabric and machine-stitched them on to cover the offender. In just 3 hours over two evenings, my comfy new nightgown was finished.

Since then, I rummaged through my storage and found a nice, mint green sheet in great condition. I think I’ll do the long-sleeve version this time and embellish with some simple embroidery. As these nightgowns are just for me, I don’t have to go crazy worrying about perfection. My storage, my pocketbook and my planet thank me!