Finished!

I have a happy little girl. Her 1780's Girls' Portrait dress is finished. The only thing really lacking is a proper sash. I need to go find some lovely pink and green silk fabrics to make her lovely sashes to go with her new dress.

Her dress is made from a Swiss dot, cotton voile, but not the fine Swiss Dot...I am sure this was made elsewhere, but it fit our needs well. I purchased the fabric when it was on sale a couple of years ago, knowing it would be made into a little dress for Miss Olivia. I waited for the fabric to be put into the bargain centre, then waited for that to go on sale for 50% off. The cost of the fabric for the dress ended up being about $3 CDN. That of course does not count the cost of the bodiced petticoat I made, which was made out of fine linen. That I'm afraid, was more money. I suspect I spent about $18 on the petticoat fabric.

For the bodiced petticoat, I made the bodice 1" longer then the pattern called for, so that I could put a 1/2" tuck into the bodice for growth room. I added 3" in length as well, so I could add in 3 1/2" tucks for growth into the skirt. If all goes well, Olivia should get a couple of years of wear out of this petticoat. The dress, on the other hand, even though it has some growth room built into it, in the skirt, I did not add growth room to the bodice.

Part of the history of these style dresses was that the clothing for children became more 'active' friendly. It encouraged the children to be at play. We put the dress to the test with Olivia having some fun playing.







There are more Portrait dresses in the 'idea queue' to happen soon.

Olivia is here in her bonnet, but she also has her lovely cotton sweater on for a more casual-modern look.




She's a very happy girl to have her new dress and petticoat finished. She was certainly patient with me. :)

Carol