Sneak Peek! 1848 "Elisabethe Dress"

Making patterns is a fiddly business.  Time-consuming.  More than I expected it to be.  But there is a distinct thrill when all your hard work begins to pay off.  You've diddled with the muslin, you've drawn a pattern, re-drawn, thrown away, re-printed, re-cut, you've ripped out, re-sewn, basted, tacked and made untold numbers of mock-ups, but then after a while, it's time to pull out the fashion fabric and make one up for real.  And it actually turns out...pretty good!

This dress is based on an 1848 photograph of a little girl, approximately aged 8, and her family.  The fabric in the original photo appears to be a gingham.  Gingham or a small check is particularly fitting for this pattern, since the grain of the fabric is sewn at an angle towards the point in the front, creating a nice effect.  I thought it was just lovely, and since a good friend inspired me to make a pattern for her daughter, I thought it fitting to name the pattern after sweet little girl!

So here is the first peek at the Elisabethe Dress pattern, soon to be ready for testing!  It features a wide neckline, a tightly-gathered fan-front, petal sleeves, and full skirt.  (Please note that I opted to cartridge pleat this version for my daughter, but the pattern will include instructions for traditional gathering to match the original.)

I hope to get this into the hands of my testers within the next 3 weeks, and after any necessary revisions, it will go into my soon-to-be-open store!  Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

xoxo  Amy