Here’s one final finish for August, just in time for the state fair!  Ellie has been asking me to make her a dress for her doll ever since the spring when my mom sent me this reprint of a vintage pattern that my paternal grandmother had made me doll clothes from.  My mom found it at a garage sale and Ellie and I are both happy to have it!

It’s Simplicity 5215. We sewed View B.
Next up according to Ellie? The underpants and then the sleeper.

I am embarrassed to admit that the only reason I pushed myself to get it finished was because I had the state fair deadline.  At least it’s done right?  I let Ellie play with it for a few hours and now she just has to wait until the fair is over.

Ellie chose the fabric and her choices made me so happy (for once) because it’s the fabric of the original clothes for her doll.  Plus I just love blue, green, and yellow together. Also fun, the bias tape line around the bottom is functioning a bit like a hoop skirt and the dress is really full.

The pattern has all kinds of lovely details, including super tiny pin-tucks, under-arm pleats, puffed sleeves (Anne would be proud) and a easy-on opening in the back.

    Velcro instead of the suggested snaps – much easier to small hands.

What the pattern does not have is helpful instructions.  It clearly assumes lots of prior sewing knowledge (perhaps because it’s vintage).  For the sleeves it said something like, “gather, pin, baste, sew”, which is all fine and dandy if you’ve set in gathered sleeves before but practically useless if you’re a beginner.  Thankfully, I made pin-tucks and gathered sleeves with two of Ellie’s dresses (her Montana dress and her 2014 Easter dress).  So I did what I learned from those Oliver+S patterns and they came out great.

I also like to think I brought the pattern a bit into the 21st century by eliminating all the lace and adding in my homemade bias tape to the collar and sleeves instead.  I also added tiny little bow to the bottom embellishment. Because I didn’t use lace, I had to figure out my own way of adding the elastic to gather the sleeves and thankfully, it worked!

Ellie, bless her heart, has not complained a bit that her new dress is disappearing for two weeks.  We’ll go looking for it at the fair next weekend! 🙂