Doll Checked Cotton Dress

Another day, another doll's dress. Luckily I don't have an audience of readers, or they would have deserted me for sure. Maybe I should embrace the doll-sewing-lady I have become and go out and buy some dolls for myself. And a house to keep them in. Kidding! Sort of.

These dresses are actually making perfect birthday gifts for the girls' friends. Even though we are in the UK, a surprising number of their friends have dolls too. I am very pleased that we got the dolls when we did because this is exactly when they really want to play with them, and they are getting a lot of pleasure from playing dolls with their friends.

Luckily, I can now knock out a doll's dress in less than a day. I think I could do two or three if I did them assembly line style. But I hate cutting out so much that by the time I have cut out 6 bodice pieces for one dress, I am so over it that I can't begin to think about cutting out a single thing more.

I used Simplicity 1443 again, in much the same style as the last time. I had a tight deadline for this dress and I didn't feel like playing around with variations. I cut the button band from the pattern this time, and added navy trim to each side. I cut the front band and the skirt band on the bias so that the check would run diagonally.

I doubled the width of the skirt band so I could fold it over and keep it knee length. I gave myself a huge pat on the back for having all seams nicely enclosed, the only exposed seams were the skirt back, so I bound them. I did them early, before I even attached the skirt to the bodice, so the edges are really neat. I am not sure about the opening of the skirt back, it seems a bit to flasher-esque. I might need to think about some kind of overlap. I'll have to go and inspect Emily Bennet's arrival dress a bit more closely and perhaps add a placket.

Otherwise, I give myself a solid 9 out of 10 for the dress. Plus a bonus point for upcycling a worn out sheet!