My Madeline Dress

"Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans.

I've reworked an old hand-made little black dress that no longer had what it takes (ahem...it didn't fit).  It was made from black cotton embroidered eyelet.  woo-hoo!  First I looked for some black fabric for the side inserts, but nothing struck my fancy.  Then up jumped this remaining scrap of dove gray cotton embroidered eyelet.  Perfecto.

I basically ended up seam ripping the heck out of this dress.  Turns out I had originally put a fake button placket down the front of the dress to take up extra fabric - and added a center seam down the back for the same reason.  rip, rip, rip, and remove all those 9 white plastic heart buttons (yuck).


I also had triple hemmed the sleeves to make them shorter - with the tiniest stitch available.  rip, rip, rip.  Decided I didn't care for the neckline and facing.  rip, rip, rip.  Okay, now for the side inserts.  rip, rip, rip those side seams.  Oh look, I had zig-zagged the edges together to keep them from fraying, rip, rip, rip.  You get the idea.

Dealt with all the opportunities as they came and went.  And found my inner Madeline Dress!