The Beatrice Dress by Handmaidens Cottage
/Hey Everyone! I’m back with another vintage inspired dress from Handmaiden’s Cottage this time! This cute pattern is sure to have your little girl looking like a little lady.
First off I have to start by saying I love the bodice of this dress. The lovely scalloped detail in the bodice is just so sweet yet vintage all at the same time. Beatrice comes in sizes 2t-12 and includes short puff sleeves or long sleeves. It closes in the back with buttons (no zips! yay!) and has a cute tie sash. Another great feature of this pattern is that it also includes a bloomer pattern for those unladylike moments little girls can have!
Now in the checklist I checked “no” for the layered option. This is half true. The pattern comes with seperate files for each individual size and one file with all the sizes together. You pick which to print. I also put that this pattern was geared more towards an intermediate sewer; the bloomers are beginner friendly. The rating for intermediate on the dress though is due to the multiple pieces, facings, and scallops in the pattern. The instructions are clearly written and easy to follow as well. This is not a nap time sew by any means. It will take many hours to complete (more if you topstitch every seam like I do) but the final product is well worth the time put into it.
Time to tell you all the details of the dress I made for my little girl! I sewed up a size 2t for my petite girl. The finished measurements are right on and the fit is great. Technically I should have done the length of a 3t for Ruth as she is taller than the measurements for the size 2t. However I liked the idea of having a vintage length especially since the bloomers are so cute with the dress. Another slight change I made was hand stitching the sleeve bindings in. I try to avoid hand sewing at all costs so I just topstitched it like normal bias binding and that worked great for me. Last but not least I finished the hem of the dress with horsehair braid. This gave the dress the perfect poof and a super easy way to hem it!
Ruth loved the dress and so did Daddy. He declared her a little lady in it!! To bad she doesn’t always act that way. All in all this dress is well worth the time put into it and the results are stunning. You won’t be disappointed in this one at all!
Larissa shares her version of the Alivia dress from The Handmaiden's Cottage.