Valentine's Dress

My five year old asked me to make her a new dress.  It was to have long sleeves and it should be pink. It sounded like a reasonable request, so I agreed.

I headed to my pattern stash and found the ONLY pattern that I own for a long sleeved, little girl's dress. New Look 6309. Does it bother anyone else that pattern designers and clothing manufacturers don't seem to get that girls need functional clothing as much as boys? I mean, really, just because they like to look pretty doesn't mean they need to freeze.

New Look 6309

New Look 6309 circa 2003

Anyway, after some thought, I decided to use a pink houndstooth flannelette for the top and a cotton duck (I think) for the skirt.  Both of these fabrics were in my stash. The flannelette was originally purchased to make pyjamas for Christmas, but I ran out of time. The cotton was purchased at a second hand shop when my daughter refused to leave without it.

My plan was to make view A, without the contrast trim, and add the collar from view B and the belt from view D. I also wanted to skip the bodice lining. I figured the flannelette would feel nicer against the skin than any lining fabric, and I didn't want to line it with more flannelette, because I thought that would be too warm. On top of that, my daughter is long and lean.  Her measurements are that of a size 2, but her height is that of a size 6. I decided to make an extra long size 3. She'll have room to grow.

I should have thought things through a little more before I started. You know what they say about hind-sight... Because I didn't cut a lining (or even a facing, the collar's seam allowance doesn't want to lay flat.  I've tacked it down in a few places, but it still doesn't want to lay as flat as it should. I'm hoping it will soften with wear. The other thing isn't really that big of a deal, but the zipper is left exposed on the inside. I hope it doesn't become an irritant against the skin.

Once I had the pieces cut, and had started construction, my little one decided that this dress would be her Valentine's Day dress. She asked me to add hearts.  So I decided to use a couple of those fancy stitches that Nina can do and I "embroidered" the belt.

New Look 6309 - Valentine's Day Dress

I'm not so sure I like this dress. I think the proportions are off or something. It reminds me of something Laura Ingles Wilder would wear on the 1970s version of "Little House on the Prairie".  But the girl who requested this dress looked at me and said, "You're really good with dresses." So we'll go with that...

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