There's no denying that there's something special about a Peter Pan collar dress for a little girl. I've wanted to design such a pattern for some time but was stuck on whether to make an oversized, small, pointed or rounded collar.
After much ogling of Pinterest pins, I settled on a petite, narrow collar with a classic rounded design. When it comes to Peter Pan collars, less is more I decided....
So here it is, the "Madeline Dress" pattern named after little Madeline of the storybooks who, of course, carries off this style to perfection.
Other design features are sweet, square pockets with a fold-down flaps made in contrast fabric and a buttoned closure at the upper back of the dress. The gathered skirt is pleasantly full and play-friendly - plenty of room for climbing, running etc.
Variations on the basic design are endless: as you will see from the links I've provided below, my lovely pattern testers have made dresses with and without collars, with contrasting and single prints and with contrast hemline bands.
The pattern is in PDF format available as an instant download from my etsy shop (for all of October at a 25% discounted introductory price of $7.50).
It comes in sizes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 and there are full sized pattern pieces for all sizes - no drafting or seam-adding necessary on any of the pieces.
Both metric & imperial measurements are included and, as always, I've tried to minimise the amount of printing & taping necessary. (The pattern prints on both A4 and American letter paper sizes and there is a printing guide to help you ensure you've scaled the pattern correctly while printing.) Here are some sample pages:
The nicest thing about this design, I think, is that it works equally well in special fabrics as a party dress or as a fun every-day dress in comfy cotton prints.
Thank you so much to pattern testers Janice, Kate & Anna for their enthusiastic sewing and thoughtful comments. You can see the amazing dresses they made here, here & here.
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