Vintage Baby Dress - Weldon's 8624 #vintagepledge

  

Hello,

Today I'm sharing this beautiful vintage toddler dress I made for my little girl as part of the 2016 #vintagepledge challenge. It's shown middle top on the pattern.

 I found this pattern in a charity shop basket whilst I was on holiday in Devon back in 2012 when my Little L was just 8 months old!  Initially I bought it for the christening gown pattern but put it away until she was a little bit bigger.

I loved that it was a sleeping bag, dress and top pattern all in one. The dress has an inverted pleat under the arm to give fullness on a princess line and a really vintage feel. I was in love, I didn't care that the pattern may not be complete, I paid my 50p and left!

I made this dress up for my little L in soft 100% cotton fabric with a ric-rak trim and added bows on the shoulders. I made it over two evenings and the pattern all fitted together really well.

The petticoat dress was perfect for crawling looked great when Little L was wearing it with leggings. The puffed sleeve and inverted pleat made it look 'quirky vintage' which is look I love and makes it wearable today with little girls cardigans, leggings and t-bar vintage inspired shoes. I still love this pattern, I wished them made in my size!

The cute inverted underarm pleat to give more shape to the skirt shape of the dress. I've never stitched this type of pleat on a dress before and it was a lovely little finish.

The pattern as many vintage patterns was a little bit of a 'fill the missing instructions in' and when you are used to commercial modern patterns, it's like re-reading the rules when you pull an old pattern out of the sleeve. The challenge is always a good one and it was great to complete in such a short period of time!

Ric rac in soft lime one the pink floral fabric

The seams were pinked to about 1cm from the seam and then zigaged with a small stitch to make them soft on her skin. Maybe over engineered for such a small project.

This was a lovely make and I am looking forward to making it again for other little girl toddlers in the family!

This is my first #vintagepledge write up for 2016. I am looking forward to sharing more little makes through the year on the hashtag.

Happy Sewing,

Samantha xoxo