Vintage Party Dress (a la Fraulein Maria)

I had my own "Nothing but old drapes!!!" moment this morning as I cut out this dress. Well OK, it was a tablecloth not a pair of curtains, but there was something about the floral and geometric print and the craftiness of it all that made me feel like Fraulein Maria herself. It was so fun that I think I might have to make another one. Perhaps a Sound of Music dress for the born again creations store soon?

Next weekend Miss J's bestie is having a garden themed birthday party.  I've already made the birthday girl a peony print tea dress for the big day and of course, Miss J must have something equally pretty to wear too. There has to be some advantage to having a mother who is constantly hunched over a sewing machine hasn't there?

This morning I gathered together some of the vintage pieces of linen that I've been collecting over the last few weeks with this dress in mind.

The pattern I used was based roughly off a dress in Juno Okawa's beautiful book Carefree Clothes for Girls.

I've made a few things from this book for Miss J. I love the simple no fuss designs made for active little girls.

The main fabric of the dress is made from a 1960s blue print tablecloth that I picked up for $3.00.  The sleeves are made from an oval shaped piece of applique' linen cut into halves, and there is a small piece of embroidery used on the front of the dress.

Blue tablecloth approx 1.2m square

Pieces of linen bought for 50c a piece (oval has been cut in half)

I added three pleats to the front

Before sewing the seam I added a pleat on each side of the
centre seam. I also used a zipper up the top.

Piece of embroidery that was stitched to the front

The sleeves were added following the same method that I used when I remade some t shirts with doilies in this post. This week I'll make a petticoat to go underneath out of an embroidered tablecloth I have and some tulle. It important after all, to have the right amount of poofiness!

All up it was an hour from start to finish. It's sweet and pretty, and a little bit different. Just like my girl.

(This is my first embedded slideshow. To go through the photos again after they've finished hover over the bottom of the window and you should see arrows to skip through the photos).