Women's Night Shirts Guide

A nightshirt is a garment intended for wearing while sleeping. This style of women's top is longer than most typical shirts: the garment reaches down to the thighs or below the knees, leaving some of the legs uncovered, and it is generally loose-fitting so it never restricts the wearer's movement while sleeping. Yes — a night shirt is worn at night, and most owners keep it on for the morning too; nightshirts double as loungewear around the home.

The design is borrowed from men's shirting, and that is its charm. Where a nightgown is soft and flowing, a nightshirt is crisp and borrowed-from-the-boys: a collar or a henley placket, buttons down the front, a shirttail hem that is often longer at the back. It is sleepwear for women who like the feel of a shirt rather than a dress.

Nightshirt Styles

The classic is the button-front nightshirt: a full placket of buttons, a notched or pointed collar, and usually a chest pocket, cut anywhere from mid-thigh to below the knee. The henley nightshirt swaps the full placket for a few buttons at the neck and a softer, jersey feel. The sleep shirt or tee-style nightshirt is a pullover — essentially an extra-long t-shirt — and is the most casual member of the family.

Sleeves run from sleeveless and short sleeves for summer to full-length sleeves for winter. The cold-weather specialist is the flannel nightshirt, cut generously from brushed cotton flannel, often in plaid; our flannel section has a whole guide to women's flannel nightshirts (linked below). Prints matter here more than in most sleepwear: stripes, checks and small florals are traditional, and novelty prints do the same work on a nightshirt that they do on a t-shirt.

Lengths and Fabrics

Nightshirts are sold by length, and the length changes the garment. A thigh-length nightshirt is the lightest and coolest, worn like an oversized tee. A knee-length shirt is the classic coverage. A calf-length or long nightshirt is the warmest and most traditional — the Victorian nightshirt, ancestor of them all, reached the ankles.

Fabric follows season. Cotton poplin and cotton jersey are the year-round standards: breathable, washable, softening with age. Cotton flannel is the winter weight. Silk and satin nightshirts are the luxurious branch, cut on the same shirt pattern but fluid rather than crisp. For hot sleepers, look for cotton-modal and bamboo jersey, which feel cooler against the skin than any woven.

Choosing and Caring for a Nightshirt

Fit in a nightshirt means room: the body should skim, never cling, and the armholes and placket should let you roll over without the garment wrapping around you. If you are between sizes, size up — sleepwear is the one category where extra ease is the point. Button-front styles have one extra virtue: they open fully, which makes them a practical choice after shoulder or abdominal surgery, and for nursing.

Care is easy. Cotton and flannel nightshirts machine wash and tumble dry; wash flannel inside out to slow pilling and keep the brushed surface soft. Silk needs a gentle cycle or hand wash. Whatever the fabric, skip fabric softener on performance jerseys, and expect good cotton to get softer with every wash — a ten-year-old nightshirt, worn in like a favorite shirt, is a genuine wardrobe pleasure.

Nightshirts also travel better than any other sleepwear: one garment replaces a separate top and bottom in the suitcase, doubles as a respectable cover-up at a shared breakfast table, and washes and dries faster than a pajama set. Roll it instead of folding it, and even a crisp cotton-poplin shirt arrives ready to wear.

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