Style 2685 or The Case of the Missing Collar

High on the euphoria of actually completing a project on the same day as I started it (swimming trunks for Ken doll), I decided to make something else quick and easy. Or so I thought.

In my fabric collection, I came across this pretty dress pattern stored with some fabric my favourite 10 year old had chosen some time ago, and decided to whip it up over the weekend.

Interesting: she considers this style to be Olden Days Clothes. What??? It’s not that old, only 1979.

I confess I hardly ever sew for my children anymore. Since they started school and wear a school uniform, they don’t seem to need as many clothes. As well, second-hand clothes from various sources flow through our house like the River Nile through the Egyptian delta.

Style 2685 is fairly simple to make – the instruction sheet consists of only one page. The dress pulls on over the head, so there are no zips, plackets or buttons to do.

She chose View 3, the yellow dress on the far left.

Unfortunately the collar pattern is missing. Of course, I only discovered this after committing to make the dress. However, I looked at the collar’s shape on the instruction sheet and measured the pattern’s neckline, and came up with something I thought would work. Living dangerously (or confidently!), I didn’t do a test collar and simply cut it out of the fashion fabric. There’s no fabric left for a re-cut.

Here’s a cutting tip, by the way: if the fabric is stable, hack around the pieces to be interfaced and lay them onto the fusing, then cut them out all at the same time.

The fabric is a crisp-ish poplin from Spotlight, bought some years ago on one of our frenzied “up-and-back-in-one-day” trips to the city. It looks like it’s from the end of the roll – it has those little creases that are hard to press out. I’m not convinced this is the best fabric for this dress because I don’t think it’s fluid enough for the flutter sleeve and the soft gathering. The pattern envelope suggests soft fabrics of the cotton type, rayon, crepe, wool/cotton blends, silk type, fine jersey and synthetics. Anyway, it’s too late now; I’ve cut it out. She likes the fabric, which is the main thing.

and….

I haven’t finished it yet. Didn’t have enough sewing time on the weekend. The main pieces are together though.

She’s tried it on and it looks better on than off. Yes I know, it looks like a tent dress here, but it should look more like the picture when the elastic has been threaded through the waist casing. The collar is only pinned on but it looks like it will be okay.

Should have it done next week, and she might even model it for us.

Cheers!