This faded yellow baby dress was last seen here when Mabel Watson Payne obligingly tried it on for size. She decided the fit was not bad, though the body and sleeves should have less fullness and the skirt should be a little longer. It amazed her to hear that her own mother had worn this dress (a hand-me-down from some kindly neighbors) back in the 1970s. Today I dismantled it and did my best to draft a paper pattern with the same square yoke and button-down-the-back construction.
The pinned-in tucks are my own homespun way of reducing fullness. I am reproducing the short sleeves of the original, but they could easily be extended to long sleeves if Mabel Watson Payne decides that is what she wants when she returns for her next fitting.
Transferring the fabric pieces to paper, I added seam allowances all around, trying to regularize the shapes so that they will ultimately fit back together again in the new fabric for the new dress.
But when I cut out the paper pieces and folded them in half to test their symmetry, it was quite clear that I had not altogether avoided irregularities. I used tape and scissors to add bits of paper in some cases, and snipped away excess in others until I felt that, for example, the four pattern pieces that must fit together to create each armhole would in fact create two identical armholes of the correct dimensions.
Next, I pinned the regularized paper pieces onto plain muslin fabric and cut out the muslin. It will become the mock-up garment that will briefly be worn by Mabel Watson Payne sometime after she has returned to San Francisco from her Thanksgiving traveling.
The muslin mock-up will go through its own process of evaluation and alteration. Then the changes will be transferred back to the paper pattern pieces, which will then determine the shape of the actual holiday frock that is the goal of all these endeavors.
Yesterday at Britex Fabrics I discovered and acquired the pleasing, soft 100% cotton yardage below. Eventually these same crude paper pattern pieces will be laid out on the Britex fabric and the scissors will bravely be biting into it. One edge is scalloped and embroidered. The pattern will be arranged so that this can be the hem of Mabel Watson Payne's new dress. If finished in time, it perhaps can make its own small contribution to the celebration surrounding her first Christmas.
