Copy Cat

I get inspiration from antique and vintage garments. Awhile ago I purchased an antique baby dress and decided to see if I could copy it. I thought the antique dress was pretty. I liked that it looked like a round yoke dress but was actually a basic yoke style. I ordered trims and laces, purchased cotton batiste and went to work.

The back placket was constructed from the batiste raw edge of the embroidered insertion on the original dress. You can see the selvage didn't cover the full width of the placket on the wrong side. But the buttonholes are handmade.



My version's placket is completely covered with the batiste selvage. And I put in machine button holes.





The slip that came with the original dress didn't match it. I'm sure mothers back then didn't really care if one matched, they used whatever they had on hand. I wanted a matching slip for the 'ensemble' and this is the result.





Here is the one I made.








The antique slip had a fancy band of sorts: it was made with laces and then stitched on through the top lace to the batiste ruffle.

Mine is an aline slip with a fancy band sewed onto the bottom.

My dress is a faux round yoke (like the original) as you can see from the photo below.

Here is the 'modern' copy cat version of the antique original.

Why did I go to this trouble to copy the original?
It was a challenge and I like challenges.
I learned the technique of using the trim selvage for the back placket instead of inserting a separate piece of fabric.
And I loved the idea of a faux round yoke over a basic yoke!