The Ginghams Sewing Contest!

"Ruthie, Emily, and Me" is pleased to announce its first ever Ginghams Sewing Contest!  The rules are quite simple: create a dress for an 18" doll that was inspired by this paper doll dress (at the left) from "Becky's Tea Party." The dress does not need to be a literal interpretation, but should feature some of the same design elements.  The winning entries will be featured in a future blog post, thus inspiring future sewers for generations to come!

Contest Entry Form
Contest Deadline: June 1, 2012

Inspiration: The Ginghams (Set 1)

When I was a little girl, I loved playing with my paper dolls just as much as my real dolls.  My favorite paper dolls were called the Ginghams, a series of four little girls wearing old-fashioned clothes, each trimmed in gingham fabric.  Last summer, I decided to recreate some of my favorite paper doll dresses for my American Girl Dolls.  While these dresses are not literal recreations, my fabric and design choices were directly inspired by the paper doll dresses.

The most difficult part for me was deciding which dress to recreate! I selected this one from "Carrie's Birthday Party."  For my dresses, instead of polka dots, I chose a white cotton fabric with small tulips. The paper doll dress looks as if it has a gathered ruffle on the bottom, but for mine, I used a flat seam.  I trimmed the neck and sleeves in mini rick-rack, and the bottom ruffle was trimmed in medium rick-rack.  I alternated colors to give each girl her own special look.  Since my dresses had a very springy look to them, I made the decision to use short sleeves instead of long.  For my pattern, I used Simplicity 9381, aka "Old Faithful."  This is my favorite go-to pattern for a quick, basic dress.

Of all the dresses I've sewn over the years, these three are among my very favorites.  It just goes to show a little creativity can dress up even the most basic of dresses! A classic style, such as this one, can be worn by nearly all of the historical characters.  Simply add a longer skirt for Felicity.

Bleuette's Sleeveless Pleated Sundress

Emily is wearing a pleated French sundress from a 1909 pattern, but I have a hard time imagining the short, sleeveless style going over well in the US during a time when girls were practically covered from head to toe. Perhaps it was worn as a pinafore or slip? Following US styles, the dress would be more appropriate for Kit and Molly.  At any rate, it was a very fun dress to sew.  The pattern is originally from the The Bleu Door and was scaled to fit an 11" Bleuette doll.  I've resized the pattern to fit an 18" American Girl doll.This pattern may not be the best for a beginner since it includes no sewing directions.  You will need some basic background knowledge on how to assemble the parts of a doll dress.


Download the .pdf pattern.   

The Bleu Door

"The Bleu Door" is one of my favorite websites for free sewing patterns.  Janie has meticulously researched, scanned, sorted, and even translated historical patterns for Bleuette, an 11" French fashion doll.  The patterns date from the 1900s to the 1950s.  In American Girl speak, this would encompass Samantha, Rebecca, Kit, and Molly.  Since most of the doll patterns are for an 11" doll, they will need to be resized in Photoshop to fit American Girl, but the extra effort is worth it to have your doll dressed in authenticate period clothes.  And beautiful clothes at that! But don't worry; if pattern resizing isn't your thing, I'll be featuring a few patterns on this blog that I've resized.  If anyone out there can help me translate the French directions, I'd love your help!