Vogue 9463 (OOP) toddler's dress

Today I had the day off work, and my mother came to visit. I had nearly finished tracing off the pattern for my silk dress, (whilst my mother was doing some quilting), when she mentioned that my youngest niece Tilly turns 2 tomorrow.
Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten this momentous event.
Auntie duty called.



I dug out this pattern, from about 1997, some quilting cotton in the favourite colour of my sister in law (garment type presents for children under 3 must be made to the taste of the childs' mother IMO), a 15+ old scrap of white pique and came up with this.


I am quite pleased with it.
It took 2 hours and 40 minutes from intention to wrapped present, nice for me to know as I usually sew in multiple short bursts.
I shortened the waist a little to modernize the pattern.
I added a bodice lining, using machine techniques to finish the inside- sandwiching the collar between the bodice and lining, sandwiching the front and back skirts between the bodice and lining (back linings cut from fashion fabric on the fold with the outer back bodice), then finishing the side seams with french seams. This is quicker to sew, but less satisfying than hand finishing, It does makes the garment more resistant to toddler life and frequent washing.

I had intended to fasten the back with buttons, but found the collar in size 2 overlapped the centre back line. Instead of re-drafting the collar, I used an invisible zip, sewn over the finished bodice and lining, which worked nicely.
I finished the armscyes with purchased bias binding.
I added machine decorative daisy stitch at the hem, which was a waste of time as it is practically invisible, and used a little of the bias binding to make a faux bow at the front.
I did this whilst having a nice long chat with my Mum, who will take it to Tilly's party for me, what a good day - even if my silk dress plan is off the rails.