• VSFLO • 1950s Gingham Baby Dress •

(That's vintage sewing for little ones...just in case you'd forgotten)

Back about 4 months ago, I shamefully admit, a friend at church's daughter had a birthday. Someone procrastinated - namely me, and didn't get her little dress done until now. I think, however it was worth the wait! I absolutely love how it came out!

Of the humongous number of vintage kids' patterns that we have, (three), none of them are for a 1-year old. Problem. But around here, creativity is sometimes present, which caused me to start drawing up a pattern! I never dreamed that it would come out this good - it's actually dress-shaped and everything! ;)

I didn't want to make a tiny little dress into too big of a deal, so I decided to make it a one-piece (no seam at the waist) dress. It definitely needed some sort of accent, so I dug out some checked pink fabric that I had in the stash. It really sets it off perfectly and gives it the color that it needed. (And it's all gingham. I LOVE gingham.)

Once I had the bodice drawn up, I knew I was going to have to tackle some sort of sleeves. Oh. boy. I just really love the idea of making up sleeves! Or not! I decided to steal a sleeve from the size 6 dress pattern that we have and try to make it baby-sized. Amazingly enough, it actually worked.

The only thing I would change on the next dress would be the size of the armhole. I got a little carried away with the size of it, but it still shouldn't be too much of a problem. 

I gathered the waist area of the front on each side and topstitched on a faux waistband which continues into ties.

Originally I was going to put a little collar on the dress, but when I made the collar, I ingeniously forgot to allow seam allowances for the neckline. The result? A collar that would have been too small for a ladybug. It ended up being all for the best, however, because the bias neck binding is cuter than any little collar could have been.

And for the first time in my life, I made more than a 5/8" hem! Since the dress is for a little one, I wanted it to be able to be made longer as she grows. I literally had never made a hem that wide before, so it was a completely new experience. It turned out much better than expected! 

I can't wait to make more little clothes for little people! It's so much fun! If and when I ever get enough things sewn for myself (I think that sounds selfish, but....), I am going to start sewing little clothes for my own future use. The box of leftover fabric from my sewing projects is starting to bulge! :)