Friday, August 1, 2014

Good Things Come in Small Packages

On the 4th of July, dear friends of ours had a very special package arrive... their little girl! Weighing in at just under 6 pounds, she was the tiniest little bundle of sweetness! Suddenly, I was looking through the old baby girl patterns from 10 years ago, digging through my fabric boxes for pink floral cottons.
While at Haberman's getting fabric for a different project (the search for the perfect shade of yellow!), I found this lovely pink and while floral cotton. The local quilt shop had the perfect solid shade of pink to pair with it, too. Now, I needed a pattern!

Baby Girl is still so tiny though... even the newborn sized clothing she has is too big! What to do, what to do... and then I had an idea. I asked my friend, "How long is she now?" and she answered, "About 20 inches." Perfect.

This lovely pattern was in a big box of vintage patterns that I bought from a friend a few years ago. Simplicity 4723 is described as a "baby doll layette" for 20" dolls like "Thumbelina, Baby Dear, Tiny Talker". Although it's not marked, I'm pretty certain this pattern is from about 1962 or '63.


I made 3 pieces: The sleeveless dress ("slip"), the jacket ("sacque"), and panties. I made lots of bias tape from my left over fabric, to trim the jacket and finish the armholes and neckline. I folded and gathered a little ruffle to add to the dress, and 1 single yard of pink satin ribbon made 4 little bows to embellish with.  I found a vintage card of snaps in my notions drawer, with just 3 snaps remaining, so I used those at each shoulder for closures.

All in all, I'm really happy with the look of the set, and I think it's very sweet. I enjoyed making it much more than I thought I would, having never made such a small baby dress before! I could hear my mother in my ear saying, "The bonnet! That baby needs a bonnet!", but she's more of a "headband" girl. Sorry, Mom!

5 comments:

Joan said...

What an absolutely lovely outfit for a lucky little baby girl. It's beautiful.

Kyle said...

Such a sweet outfit!

Jenny said...

So so cute! I have a new niece in need of something special. I need to do the hunting around for fabric and pattern also.

Nana said...

She will look like the doll in the precious outfit! You are so thoughtful.

Bunny said...

It's darling, Kristine. Aren't baby clothes/doll clothes fun to make? Little fit to worry about and such fun to design! Make her some more!