Dress, reverse-engineered

the original dress

I saw this lovely dress at pottery barn kids the other day. I'm always on the lookout for good kid clothing patterns, and this dress was exactly the kind of simple shift I have been seeking. The floating lining inside gives it a really finished look. Time to reverse-engineer it! I really didn't want to rip the thing apart and thankfully was able to figure out mostly what they had done by turning it this way and that, over and over. The seams of the dress are obvious, so making the pattern is just a matter of tracing each piece and then giving a seam allowance (I like 1/2"). The hardest part is sussing out in what order the pieces are assembled. There is one tricky bit where I end up having to hand-sew the shoulder seams because for the life of me I cannot figure out how they did it with a machine. Again, borrowing the serger made the difference. The seams just look so professional.


My first copy of the dress was for Mona, who is expecting her little girl in the fall. She got to pick out the fabric and the buttons. I approve of the snazzy contrast!



The second copy is for Calliope. The fabric is from a sun-dress I bought at t j max for $10. One of my secrets: if you see a piece of clothing that has super awesome fabric, just get the biggest size you can find and then cut it apart and use the fabric for other things. A hideous velvet skirt can cost only a few dollars at goodwill, and you can never ever find velvet by the yard that cheap. Another favorite is old bedsheets. Once they make it to the goodwill they have been washed hundreds of times. Good old fashioned cotton sheets get a fantastic smooth cool feel after many washes. In neutral colors they make perfect linings.


I consider this pattern a success! The original dress was sized 12-18 months. I need to do a little research and hopefully will learn the scaling ratios used for children's clothing so that I can make different sizes.

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Eggs laid in the coop today: 2
Eggs found in the woods today: 0