[Jenny]

Hi all,

My almost-5-year-old daughter would dearly love a Laura Ingalls Wilder-esque/Pioneer/Little House on the Prairie-type dress. I have checked Folkways, a site for Amish/Mennonites, vintage patterns from the 80s, etc. but am coming up short. Any ideas about what O&S patterns might modify nicely, or anything else? Her chief requirements are going to be: long skirt, somewhat fitted bodice, long sleeves, button closures. The bonnet I can wing I think. Thanks!

[Sarvi]

It’s not exactly what you describe, but what about the Playdate?

http://oliverands.com/product/OLV-OS007PD.html

[vothgirl]

I love the Playdate dress! It would look so sweet with a bonnet.

I perused the costumes page on a couple mainstream pattern websites (since Halloween is in a couple months and patterns and costumes are popping up everywhere) and found these:

http://www.simplicity.com/p-1992-costumes.aspx

http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m9424-products-7183.php?page_id=915

[with love Heidi]

I used the music class blouse as a basis for some Laura Ingells nightgowns at the request of a friend.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/73669617@N07/11245759755/

[Jenny]

Thanks for these! Wow, I love being in a forum with such talented and resourceful members on the other side of the globe to tackle the problems of my world (ha!) while I sleep….

I’d seen those Simplicity/McCalls patterns but mistakenly thought they were only available in a larger size range; I think I’ll order the Simplicity one and call it a day. Had also considered the yoked playdate but wasn’t sure how it would look lengthened and with a waistline added in. Heidi, those nightgowns are amazing, though–I might need to do something like that just for fun, or maybe for Christmas.

I really appreciate your ideas!

[Nicole]

I love ‘costume’ patterns. They take out the guess work.

[meleliza]

Agreed. Simpler is better! Plus, at the risk of being persnickety, the dropped shoulder in play date is not very frontier like. In little house, everything was a pretty basic fitted bodice, set in sleeve and gathered rectangle skirt. I’d be inclined to Stick with the costume patterns that are everywhere this time of year.

[Violaisabelle]

I am sure the simpler the better, but I wanted to share a couple of thoughts. I’m not sure how accurate you are wanting to be, but with pioneer dressing, often times young girls wore loose fitting dresses with pinafore type aprons over top, and depending on age, a 1/2 apron would be used. Folkwear patterns has an accurate type dress if you are interested. You can often times find this pattern on Ebay for a low price: http://www.folkwear.com/213.html . Here’s an ebay auction with the pattern: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Folkwear-213-Child-s-prarie-dress-UNCUT-/221531789191?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339452d787 . Have fun sewing!

Carol

[Jenny]

After ordering the costume pattern I am back to thinking about Amish/Mennonite patterns. We saw a number of Amish recently on a family trip to Colonial Williamsburg and I was struck by how totally 19th century they are. I found a fabric/clothing supplier for this community with a wider range of King’s Daughter patterns, including this button dress. The historically persnickity in me might go for this one after all.

http://www.gehmanscountryfabrics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=ST-1801

[Violaisabelle]

Jenny, it you are wanting to be more historically accurate with your garments, what years are you looking at for reproducing? The link you gave is more ‘modern’. 🙂 The Mccall pattern linked to above, is probably a bit more realistic, without all the ‘frilly’ things and a few other details if you looking for the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. In other words, with a few changes, you could make that pattern work fairly well. Here is a link that has three pictures of an Amish dress and apron from around the 1900, scroll down past the first photo: http://magdalenaperks.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/plain-dress-children/ . I know Mennonite women still use that style apron and they call it a ‘canning apron’, similar to this one: http://www.candleonthehill.net/store/catalog.php?item=162

Here is a link to a lady who has an antique store and she specializes in Amish garments. Scroll down and you will see the name of a book she uses, and a picture from that book, that gives you some examples of Amish girl dresses from different times in history. http://017924b.netsolhost.com/ccblog/page/13/

Like all cultures, within the Amish and Mennonite communities, they do not all wear the exact same thing. There are rules where some may have collars, others do not, some are allowed puffed sleeves, others are not, some are allowed to wear various colours, others are not, buttons, no buttons, etc….

Here’s a link from the Ohio Arts council, you can see a few pictures of Amish children’s clothing and if you click on one of the links, you can go to the description of the exhibit which gives a bit of information on the clothing. http://www.oac.state.oh.us/riffe/exhibitions/2001/Amish/amish.asp

Have fun planning your sewing project. If nothing else,you will have the fun of researching historical garments. 🙂

Carol

[Sarvi]

What great info, Carol, thanks for sharing!

[Harmony]

Jenny,

I have the McCalls pattern. When I got it, I had to hire out making the dress part since I felt it was beyond my skill level. Now, I don’t think so. I’m planning to use it as a nightgown pattern with some alteration (bound neckline instead of collar and no elastic in the sleeves).

I can tell you the pinafore part was an easy sew once I figured out the whole, “turn it inside out through the hole you left in the strap” thing. In my defense, it was the very first thing I ever sewed from a pattern. 🙂