When I was a little girl, any doll dress that had lace, rickrack, or ribbon trim was always a favorite of mine.
My cousin and I would “do a pick” for doll clothes before we started our play time. That’s where you lay out all the doll clothes on a bed, table, or floor, and take turns picking which doll clothes were part of your doll’s closet collection.
The first to get chosen were always the doll clothes with special trims! A silk ribbon, a swatch of lace, or a zigzagging line of rickrack always made the cut first.
Why is that? To most little girls, the trim makes all the difference!
Let’s look at my vintage baby doll clothes patterns from Simplicity (pattern #1844) for example. This pattern would have fit the 1950’s versions of 15 to 16 inch Betsy Wetsy and Tiny Tears.
Look at the photo below. Which outfits would you pick first?
I think I know my cousin well enough to guess that the fight over who got to pick first would be all about the baptismal dress shown in View 1! It’s simply elegant with lace trim and tiny blue ribbons.
Personally, the last thing I would pick would be the yellow gingham outfit in View 4 because it’s just so ordinary.
I mean, gingham is fun, but overalls? That’s what you put your baby in for an everyday event like going to the babysitter or playing outside. Even the bunting is more fun, with its ribbon drawstring at the bottom and its pretty white trim at the collar and sleeve cuffs.
I adore the dress in View 2 with its tiny pink ribbons at the shoulders. So sweet! That would have been my number 2 pick. If I didn’t get the baptismal gown, I’d definitely choose the rose dress next!
And I was a creative thinker, even as a child, so I would have considered the slip in View 6 as a sundress. As such, it would have been my choice for my number 3 pick.
As long as I already had a dress to go with it, the little coat in View 3 would have been my number 4 pick because how cute is that tiny white rickrack around the collar and bonnet? Adorable!
You could always pair the red bonnet with the pink and white dress in View 2 as well, so the jacket-plus-bonnet is a good choice for a later pick.
What lesson can we learn from this? The next time you think an outfit you’re sewing is too plain-looking, consider adding a little trim! Some tutorial videos that might help are listed below:
To close, let’s all do a pick! If you were choosing one of the outfits from the cover of my vintage Simplicity 16 inch baby doll clothes pattern number 1844, which one would you pick? Ask your “inner child” what she would pick and have fun with it by leaving a comment telling us your “pick” for playtime!
And speaking of “doing a pick,” have you seen my new “Do a Pick #Shorts” games on my YouTube channel? They are so much fun! Subscribe to my channel and “do a pick” with the rest of us, when each new YouTube Shorts video comes out!
Today’s blog post is a re-post. To understand why Chelly Wood is taking some time off, reposting older blog topics, revisit the end-of-March blog post entitled, “There’s a cat in my sewing room!”
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Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with the pattern company or companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly finds inspiration in the doll clothes designed by these pattern companies. To purchase patterns from Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick, or other pattern companies shown and discussed in this blog post, please click on the links provided here. These links below the “Disclaimer” section do not help raise money for this free pattern website; they are only offered to give credit to the company that made these patterns.