Sewing: Vintage Zoo Dress

I am sewing, madly sewing...

I hope not too madly really, but I am working on outfits (among other things) for Audrey's upcoming birthday party and the effort just happens to coincide with Elsie Marley's KCWC. Her challenge was the boost I needed, though not such a boost that I managed to sew through the night. I wish I could! But I don't get enough uninterrupted hours of sleep as it is so this dress for Audrey is finished later in the week than I hoped. But still finished!

This little dress is the result of combining two vintage patterns. I loved the scalloped collar on McCall's pattern 7656 and couldn't resist the puffy short sleeves and inverted pleat on the dress in Simplicity 5683. Seems they would combine fairly easily, but, (always a "but") the necklines and shoulders are pretty different, and I needed to enlarge it two sizes, so I pulled out my roll of examination table paper (such a great thing to have!) and drafted a new pattern with elements of each. Oh, and I skipped the zipper (as I am wont to do) and changed the back to buttons. Much easier putting in the work on the front end than to have tried pinning and cutting with multiple pieces. 

So here is Audrey's Vintage Zoo Dress. For Scarlett's birthday last Fall I was unsure about a bow but this dress was begging for it. I made it extra large. Audrey provided her opinion on that and I agreed. (She's come a way on the bow thing. A year or so ago she certainly would have said, "no bow.") Oh, and that's a dickey in the front. A dickey! A first for me. It required hand-sewing.

The fabric for the bow was totally serendipitious! I was at Joann buying rickrack and other notions for party making and the woman next to me was having this polka dot fabric cut. It was difficult to remain calm and hope she wasn't taking the entire bolt because it was the perfect match to the fabric I had brought along! I felt like high-fiving the cutter when the bolt was set aside with enough left for me! It is in the line DS Quilts Collection for Fabric Traditions, which I believe is a Joann exclusive and reportedly a big seller.  

It looks just perfect in the pleat on the sides. But I thought the dress needed a bit more of it to go along with Michael Miller's "Kid Zoo" fabric.  So I took some inspiration from No Big Dill and added a polka dot placket for the buttonholes on the back.

I was a bit nervous about it but I love it!

This also provides a bit of a sneak peek for Audrey's fifth birthday party. We're so excited!