The dress Prudence is wearing in her portrait is easily made. As you can see on the pattern below; the bodice and sleeves are cut in one piece. The skirt is a straight piece that is shirred around the top and sewn to the bodice. My Prudence wears a gown of lavender and white striped lawn, trimmed with lavender velvet ribbon. Any soft fine cotton fabric will do very nicely. It could be plain colored, or plaid, or checked, or printed with a tiny floral design. Ribbon, narrow rickrack braid, bias tape, or lace could be used for trimming. It’s such fun to figure out just how you’re going to make and trim the dress.

Click on the bodice pattern to enlarge and print. Write the doll’s name and the date on the pattern. This is a basic pattern which can be used for any number of different dresses and fancy costumes, so don’t let it get lost.

Fold the material in half. Place the pattern on it so that its top edge meets the fold line of the fabric. Cut it out.

Make the narrowest hem you can around the neckline and the bottom of the sleeves. Now gather the sleeves between the points marked A and B on the diagram. Before knotting the gathering thread, test the shirring at the neck to see if you’ve allowed enough room to put the bodice on over the doll’s head. Test the sleeve bottoms to see that they’re wide enough to allow the hand and arm to go through them. When these adjustments have been made, knot the thread. Sew the sides together, on the wrong side. Turn the bodice inside out.

The skirt measures 16 in. around the bottom and is 4 3/4 in. long, including the turnup for the hem. Gather the top and draw in enough to match the measurement around the bottom of the bodice. Be sure to leave 1/4 in. at each side to seam the skirt together. It is a very good idea to secure the shirring by running a line of machine stitching along it. If you cannot use a machine, sew a row of small back-stitches to hold the gathers in place. Seam the side of the skirt. Iron the skirt and press the seam open so it will lie flat. A doll’s electric iron is just right for this.

Join the bodice to the skirt like this; turn the skirt inside out and the bodice upside down. Slip the bodice inside the skirt until the two edges meet. Sew the two parts together, having the side seam of the skirt meet one side seam of bodice. Use small running stitches, and go around the waistline twice. Knot the thread securely.

Turn up 1/2 in. along bottom of skirt and hem with tiny stitches. Iron hem before putting dress on doll.

The waistline of the dress is not quite as snug as you may think it should be. This was planned on purpose, because it is easier to put the dress on the doll when the waist is a bit loose. The belt or sash that she’ll wear can be put on tight enough to give her the wee waist that looks so very pretty.

Necklace

A necklace of small beads will complete her costume. Choose a color bead that contrasts nicely with the color of the dress. The necklace can be removable if you make it the following way: thread one bead and slide it down to within 2 in. of the end of the thread; tie the thread in a double knot around this bead, then thread as many more beads as is necessary to make the necklace the length you want. Then knot the thread around the last bead and break it off 2 in. away from the bead. The thread ends can be tied in a small bow at the back of the neck.

COSTUME CHANGES

Charming Prudence can have many more dresses if you use the basic bodice pattern with different kinds of skirts.

Suppose you have a pretty piece of pink chambray you want to use for a dress with a circular skirt. Cut and finish the bodice as before. Then lay a bread and butter plate on a single thickness of the fabric. Trace around it and then cut out the circle. Fold the circle in half and in half again. Cut off the point 1/2 in. away from the top fold. Curve the cutting line slightly so that a perfect circle is taken out of the center. This is the waistline. Fit it to the bottom of the bodice. If it is too small, trim it just the slightest bit. If too large, gather it slightly to fit. The shirring looks best when placed at the back.

Sew the circle to the bodice. Make a narrow hem around the bottom of the skirt. Three bands of narrow white rick-rack around the bottom of the skirt, and one band around the neckline and sleeve bottoms, will give the dress a fresh, spick-and-span look that is most attractive. A white kid belt would be pretty, or a piece of the white rickrack tied around the waist would finish it nicely.

A fairy Princess Gown

A party gown or Fairy Princess costume can be made from white or pale yellow organdie. Use the same bodice pattern. Cut a circular skirt from a double thickness of organdie, using a dinner plate as a guide in drawing a perfect circle. Cut out the waistline just as you did in the pink chambray. Silver ribbon or silver tinsel make beautiful trimmings for these gowns. String enough small pearls to make a circle the size of a quarter. Tie the ends together and place on the doll’s head for a little crown. A tiny bracelet of pearls can be tied on each wrist. For fancy costumes such as these, silver painted or white kid slippers look best.

An Everyday Dress

A pleated skirt with the same bodice makes a very attractive daytime dress. Checked gingham (use only the very smallest size check) or a small pattern plaid gingham looks very well when pleated. Make the bodice as usual.

For the skirt, cut a straight piece of material about 4 in. long and 13 in. wide. Make a small box pleat in the center. Make 1/4 in. pleats, side by side, on either side of the center, so that the top of the skirt measures the same width as the bottom of the bodice. Then pin the pleats in place. In this instance, the skirt will be seamed at the center back. Cut off any excess material. Stitch along the top of the skirt to hold the pleats in place. Put the bodice on and hold the skirt up to it to determine the correct length. Hem the skirt but do not seam it together. While still unseamed, iron the pleats in place; then sew up the seam. Join the skirt to the bodice as usual.

Bias binding tape (it comes already folded for use) can be sewn around the neckline and bottom of sleeves. A narrow black kid belt will look well.