CHANNELING THE CARRY ON GIRLS - Tutorial

(On The Cheap) - WHAT'S A CARRY ON GIRL?

When you are a larger lady, it is often very difficult to find vintage clothes in your size. I have had some success with dresses, and of course accessories come in all sizes, but vintage nightwear in a plus size is VERY hard to come by. It does exist, but what I have mostly found is overpriced nightgowns on Ebay. Growing up in the 1970s, I am no stranger to a bit of frothy negligee, because like most households we were big fans on the Carry On movies.

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So I decided to have a go at making my own sheer frothy negligee. Let my preface the following instructions with the fact that - I AM HOPELESS AT SEWING- And anyone who can sew half way decent can probably come up with something far superior, but for now, I am fairly happy.

What I used -
2 meters of chiffon = 2m long 36 inches (90cm) wide.
2 meters of satin ribbon
1.5 meters of white elastic 3/4 inch wide
Matching thread

First I zig-zag stitched up both raw edge widths, to stop any fraying.

Next  I folded back a 1 inch hem on one of the lengths. I am not that great at sewing so I tacked mine first, then machined it.

Make sure your elastic will fit inside this channel. You may want to turn it back twice, if your fabric is very sheer and you don't want to see the elastic through it (I wasn't too bothered about it).

Next I sewed the two widths together, without sewing over the hem for the elastic (or the elastic cant go in).

I then cut the elastic to size by trying it around me going across my chest around my back, including  under both arms. It has to be tight enough to keep the negligee up but elastic going around your body and under your arms (in the position that the top of a boob tube would sit in), should never been too tight.
Once the elastic is inside, sew the elastic ends together, and stitch up the open end of the elastic hem.

Next I attached two lengths of ribbon for straps. I put the negligee on and pinned where I thought the straps should be. I then took it off and evened the pins up (equal distance from the center on the front and the back), and then pinned the ribbon in place  on the inside, to act as straps.

Sewing the straps on will stop the chiffon from sliding around the elastic (too much), so make sure the chiffon is evenly distributed around the elastic before sewing the straps on (machine stitched is probably best).

I had some spare ribbon to make a little decorative bow at the front, which I quickly hand stitched in place.

Because the selvedge was used at the top and the hem edges, there was no need to hem it. If you wanted a shorter nightgown it would be easy enough to hem (and make the off cut into a scarf tied around the head in a pussy bow of course).
So there it is, all done. By no means perfect, but extremely easy, and extremely cheap.
I get my fabric from HERE it may not be the prettiest website, but the prices speak for themselves.

2 meters x 36' chiffon - in Med Blue - £4.98
2 meters x 0.5' Satin Ribbon - in Navy £0.78
1.5 meter x 3/4' white elastic - sold in meters - £1.00

Total = £6.76
Postage for this weight was £1.35, and only took 2 days to Scotland, bringing the total to £8.11, still coming in at well under £10.

Valerie
xxx