Colonial Dress in Miniture

After a few weeks I am finally sharing the little doll dress I made for Miss Brenna's American Girl doll, Elizabeth. Brenna turned 6 on the 19th of October and she really wanted a new dress for her doll. Originally I was going to purchase one, but in the end I couldn't afford it. Fortunately, earlier in the year I'd purchased some fabric and trim to make a dress for the doll out of a pattern my MIL had bought for me. So out came the fabric and the sewing machine.

Seriously, it would have been a really simple thing to do if my machine didn't decide to act up and cause a headache...but, alas, my sewing machine did give me trouble and a simple project became slightly frustrating. But, after fixing the feed dogs and making my thread work for me...I completed most of the dress in time for Brenna's birthday:-) All I left unfinished was the hem and the closure in back.

I would have finished the back, but I didn't have the velcro and for some reason the closure did not meet all the way when the dress was on the doll:-/ So, yesterday I added some fabric for what I think you'd call a placket and tonight I will sew the velcro on. As for the hem, I opted to add lace(like what is on the neck and ruffles) and really like the way it turned out(sorry no pic with that right now). In the original pattern, lace was not added to the sleeve ruffles, but I liked the way it looked and it made hemming them much simpler:-)



The picture above shows the dress almost complete, minus the hem being done. I really was pleased with how this dress turned out. The only thing I'd do different would be to make sure I have matching thread(so as to hide my sometimes crooked seams ;-p) and give myself more time.



Above is the pattern I used(sorry, it is a touch blurry). It has fairly clear instructions and was pretty easy to put together. I will gladly use this again when making dresses for Christmas! I would give more info but my MIL gave it to me and I am not quite sure where she found it.

Now that this dress is done, I am looking forward to doing more sewing for Christmas and getting ready for the wee bairn that is coming in the Spring:-)

Blessings,
Sommer