I’m not usually one to mash or hack patterns, but lately I’ve been having fun playing around with a few hacks and mash ups. This post is a tutorial on how I mashed together the Mama Bridgette pattern from Made For Mermaids, and the Cross My Heart Cami from Patterns For Pirates. You can find the Mama Bridgette pattern here, and the Cross My Heart Cami here.

I really like both patterns how they are, but I also wanted an option of a bodice that wasn’t a crossover front. I’m a little um, shall we say well endowed, and I tend to fall out of cross front tops. In search of a solution to this problem, it occurred to me that I could try mashing Mama Bridgette with another patter. Since the Cross My Heart Cami has a cropped option, I thought that might go great with the Mama Bridgette skirt.

Here is what I did to mash these two patterns together:

Sew the Top

Make the Cross My Heart Cami per pattern instructions. Use the cropped option, but omit the band at the bottom. Instead, you will be adding the Mama Bridgette skirt. Adding the cross straps is up to you. I didn’t want them on my nightgown, so I didn’t add them.

Assemble the Skirt

Cut out the Mama Bridgette skirt in your size. Sew the side seams with ¼ inch seam allowance.

Sew them Together

Mark skirt center front and center back, then cropped top center front and center back. Mark side seams.

Turn cropped top right side out and put inside the skirt. (right sides will be together.)

Match the center front markings of the skirt and the cropped top to each other, and then do the same with the center back markings. Match side seams of cropped top to side seams of skirt. Pin together.

Sew the cropped top to the skirt using ¼ inch seam allowance. Skirt will need to stretch ever so slightly to fit cropped top.

Finishing the Nightgown

You can finish the hem per patterns instructions, or you can add lace by topstitching it to the hem. I took an alternative route by taking ¼ in hem allowance, pressing it up and  edge stitching. I like to surge the edge before hemming to give it a more finished look on the inside. This is by no means necessary, just something I like to do. You can still use a regular sewing machine to finish the hem. I finished it differently because to me, it gives it more of a floating skirt look. I really like that, so I finish all my nightgowns this way.

And that’s it! That’s how I mashed these two patterns together to get a new look and a nightgown that is cute, comfortable, and worry free.

All of these nightgowns were made using double brushed polyester. I’ve made it in rayon spandex as well, but in my opinion it was less comfortable and I didn’t like that the fabric “grew” with wear. (It stretches as it hangs on your body.) If you don’t want to use double brushed polyester, I would recommend following the pattern recommendations of either pattern for fabric choice.

Thanks for reading, and good luck trying out the mash up!