McCalls 2123: Another version of Dress C

Sorry that this photo is a little blurry!

Since the striped dress had to be cut out on the cross-grain, I made another version on the straight grain to see if it made any difference to the fit. I'd say that it does a little, on Barbie here. The front bottom isn't gaping quite so much.

I put the other dress on a new Barbie to see how the fit would be on the so-called "new" body. Fits her great!

For this version I still used used fusible interfacing on the front edge, but this time I put a second strip just on the left edge to support the buttonholes better. 

I like how the striped dress fits across the bust and shoulders  All the views in McCalls 2123 have sleeves that are cut-in-one with the bodice. I might cut them all out on the cross-grain in order to get that same nice fit. Another experiment to make!

Here's the same dress on Misty, and as usual she wears it very well. 

She is such a nice doll. When I was a girl, I would have loved to have her. But we got only one doll a year, and that was at Christmas. And the year I asked for a Barbie, Dad decided I must be out-growing dolls and told me that Barbie would be my last doll. 

I was broken-hearted--I loved dolls of all kinds still! But he kept his word--I never did get another doll until I was an adult and bought one for myself. I guess explains my collecting habits. No more dolls for Christmas? Hah! This year I got eight! In heaven my dad must be shaking his head and laughing at me. :-D

Old patterns are treasures, but for most of them the envelopes are not in good shape. So to protect the cut pieces, I make an envelope out of pretty paper to store them in. Often I will take a color photocopy of the front and back of the pattern envelope, paste them on to a big 9 x 12 envelope, and keep everything inside it. Whenever I sew anything, I leave myself notes about the experience in case I want to make it again--written right on the directions where I or the next owner will find them.

Finally, here's a little surprise! I was googling images of McCalls 2123 to see what else would turn up, and I found this little picture of View C that was made by somebody, somewhere! The links it was attached to did not lead anywhere, so I'm preserving it here lest it disappear entirely. It's so fun to see it as someone else produced it!