I was able to sneak another doll outfit in between items for my dad. This time it was Molly’s turn for a new dress. For Molly’s new dress, I decided to try out a new pattern designer, K&R Vintage patterns. The patterns are scaled down children’s sewing patterns. It was nice to be able to say you made a real 1940’s dress for your doll. The one I chose was Simplicity 3234 (rough estimate of 1940-ish).
This was another time that my fabric stash let me down. I just couldn’t find anything in it that fit my vision of what Molly’s dress should look like. So it was another trip to the fabric store. There I came across this lovely aqua floral quilting cotton that ended up being perfect. I decided against trim for the collar of the dress and opted for letting the print be the main focal point. I figured the dress could be trim-less because Molly didn’t have enough rationing coupons for lace.
I only made the dress, but I did notice that the cutting layout has you include an item for the pinafore (Pinafore Belt N) on the dress layout. If you are just making the dress, it isn’t needed. If you are making the pinafore, you probably should decide whether you want it out of the pinafore fabric or the dress fabric.
I didn’t do any pattern alternations even though I know Molly is on the larger size of dolls. However, I knew that I was not going to keep the button back closure. I inserted the collar. For the lining I only stitched the neckline seams (I didn’t continue it down the sides). Then the bodice and lining were ironed flat. Sleeves were stitched to both outer fabric and lining then ran through the serger for seam finishing. I really didn’t want to hand sew the lining to the sleeve. Bottom of bodice (and lining) were basted for gathering into the “belt” waistband pieces. The bodice was attached to the waistband. Skirt was attached to waistband. Then I measured to find where the center back was on the pattern piece. It was half-inch from raw edge. My Velcro is quarter-inch wide, so I subtracted that out from the half-inch and used a three-eighth seam allowance for the back.
Overall, the pattern was fairly easy to put together. Since, it is a scale down of the 1940s children’s sewing pattern, the instruction may confuse a new seamstress. In the center is the original pattern instructions. The instructions along the sides is how you put together your doll dress. I did print out the instructions just because I was not certain about the instructions layout. But otherwise, it was easy to follow.
Slowly working through my dolls, next up will be Melody. I have a Butterick pattern picked out and some fabric. I just need to decide what fabric to use for the jacket.
sewbeading 