Why a pyjama set earned a letter

Every nightie and pyjama set I owned had gone see through, baggy, or both. This set is half price, and it actually looks like something I would choose.

Why I finally stopped settling for nightwear I was faintly embarrassed by, and the lace set that changed my mind. Written by a customer, not the shop.

My nightwear drawer was an embarrassment, if I am honest about it. A stretched out t shirt from a supermarket multipack, a nightie gone see through after one too many washes, and bottoms that never quite matched whatever top I grabbed. I told myself it did not matter because nobody else saw it. That was the whole problem.

So when I saw the Lucie Lace Pyjama Set while Abbey Lane were running their anniversary sale, half price caught my attention before anything else did. I ordered it expecting the usual disappointment, something that would look nothing like the photograph once it actually arrived. It did not happen that way, and that is the whole reason I am writing this.

Lace, on pyjamas, at my age, felt like something designed for somebody else entirely. But the set itself is plainer than the word lace suggests. A soft cami top with a bit of scalloped lace at the neckline and the hems, a small bow at the front, and matching shorts. Nothing about it is costume-y once it is actually on. It simply looks like something a bit nicer than what I normally sleep in, which, it turns out, was exactly what I was missing.

I had spent years deciding I was past the age for anything pretty at bedtime. I was wrong, and I am slightly annoyed about how long it took me to notice.

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This was my honest worry. Lace trim, in my experience, usually means something scratchy along an edge you keep tugging at by eleven at night. I looked for it. The trim sits flat, the fabric underneath is a soft stretch jersey, and I have worn it to actually sleep in, not just to sit about in for a photograph, three nights running with no complaints from me or from my skin.

I ordered my usual size and it fit the way the measurements said it would, nothing clinging, nothing that needed a size up once it arrived. It comes from extra small through to a two extra large, which matters to me, because the last two nightwear sets I tried from other places stopped a full size short of where I actually needed them.

My sister is having a difficult autumn, more hospital visits than either of us would like, and I wanted to send her something that was not flowers again. I ordered her the same set in a different colour. It felt like the right kind of present, small, a bit indulgent, nothing she would ever buy herself either.

What I used to sleep in, against this

Three of the eleven colours. The cut is identical in all of them.

About the lace, honestly

I will say the same thing I always say when something is reduced and I am tempted to assume there is a catch. I looked for one. The stitching at the lace edges is neat, the colour on mine, Soft Pink, matched the photograph, and nothing has gone baggy after washing it on a normal cycle.

Free UK delivery, and 30 days to send it back if it is not what you expected. If, like me, you have quietly decided that nice bedtime things are for other people, I would have a proper look at this one before you talk yourself out of it again.

One more thing I only noticed afterwards: when you order two, an extra 10% comes off automatically at checkout. That is how my sister's set ended up costing me even less.

Anne Whitaker

About the writer. Anne Whitaker is a customer from West Yorkshire. This page is an advertisement for Abbey Lane · Free UK delivery · 30 day returns.