Molly’s Party Dress for Girls

Emily’s owner has been dying for a party dress to match theone her doll has. We both agreed that we should modify the huge ruffle sleeves and turn them into a puffed sleeve with ric rac trim. In hindsight, I am not sure that this works on such a plain, white bodice. While I didn’t want to draft princess seams and three giant ruffles, they add texture and interest to the bodice front, which this dress is sorely lacking.

I turned to my usual girls’ dress bodice block, Cottage Mama’s Party Dress. Size 8, with a larger centre back to allow for buttonholes. I still have the puff sleeve that I drafted for the Red Spotty Dress, but I added some more fabric in the centre of the sleeve to get more puff. It could do with more fabric in the length now too.

I trimmed the sleeve band and the pocket tops with the three colours of ric rac, then added them as details. The fabric is 100% cotton, and the bodice is self lined. I used a full width of the very wide cotton for the skirt, with no under layer. The doll’s dress is very short, which is pretty cute, but I prefer longer dresses on my girls, so the fabric length is 55cm. I made the sash separately, rather than fiddling about, integrating it into the dress. If it slips, I’ll add belt carriers to the sides. It was cut at 6 inches + 2cm.

My favourite feature of this dress is the red buttons on the back. They are vintage, from my Grandmother, or my Mother. They are little octagons and sit up very high, with a deep dip in the centre. I attached them with red thread. The button under the sash is flat and white, for comfort (and so I can keep the rest of the red ones!)

I think I will like this dress more with a red cardigan over the top and some frilly socks, and I'm not sewing a garment with plain white quilting cotton ever again. But, when you are sewing a commission, it doesn’t matter if you like it, the important thing is that the client is happy!

Costs:

Fabric:                £6.00 Rainbow Fabrics, Isle of Wight, 1m.

Pattern:               £0.00 Cottage Mama

Thread:               £0.00 Stash

Trim:                   £0.00 RicRac, stash

Buttons:             £0.00 Stash

Total:                  £6.00