Sew Country Chick

A modern sewing blog

A 1941 Sailor Girl Dress: Darla’s Day Out

Today in The United States Of America we celebrate Independence Day.
Our family will be visiting with friends on the beach in beautiful Malibu, attending a cookout in the afternoon, and then watching the fireworks from the pier!
I though I would share one of my all time favorite patriotic sewing projects from my archives.
The 1941 Sailor Dress from April 2012….
Let’s pretend.
It’s 1941 and this little girl’s daddy is a soldier coming home on leave today.
Her name is Darla.
Mommy and Darla came to the station early and Darla wants to look at the train tracks!

Darla is wearing her best dress made by mommy especially for today.
It is so patriotic, isn’t it!
Mommy and Darla took a special trip to the city to buy her new leather shoes as well.
The man in the shoe shop gave Darla a pinwheel and she loves it.
Darla also loves to go to the train station because it’s fun to explore there. Mommy often takes her out for an ice cream on days like this too.
She has such a nice mommy, doesn’t she?
This is an old farming town and only one train comes a day so Mommy lets Darla play around the tracks.
Things were a lot different back then!
Children Darla’s age played unsupervised outside for hours and no one called Child Protective Services!
Darla loves to find pretty rocks.
Darla also loves to play with her pinwheel. Lucky for Darla there is a nice breeze so her pinwheel affords her endless amusement!

Darla is starting to get weary of waiting….
There is the train off in the distance…

Daddy will be here soon!
Hip, hip, hooray!!!
Back to reality….
I used this pattern from 1941.
Read More….

As you can see from the instructions above some vintage patterns are quite complicated! I love the challenge and always learn something new when working with patterns this old.
It’s like opening a time machine!
When was the last time you saw a dress this detailed for a toddler in a shop?
I loved the little detail of the sleeve tucks.
My stitching is a little messy here. The braid trimming and the buttons are also vintage.
Don’t you love vintage patterns?
Linked to..
Todays Creative Blog
The Train to Crazy

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Related posts:

Spring sewing inspirations: Sailor and French linen 1943 Sailor Shorts! 1940’s Kids Spring Collection Highlights Little girls dress made from a 1942 pattern and a men’s shirt. A Forties Inspired Sailor Dress: OOlong Pattern Revision
-McKenzie

Comments

  1. Oh! So lovely!! love the dress, love how cute she looks!!!! love the pictures too!

  2. Love this dress! And, your right about the instructions on some of the vintage patterns being complicated to follow.

  3. oh my goodness, its so adorable! what a lovely dress and yes that pattern makes me a bit dizzy…i bow to your patience and skill in doing 9 buttonholes! her shoes are darling too.

    • My machine is pretty good at doing a basic buttonhole. It’s a Viking Freesia. I’d love to upgrade. I was thinking about that new Singer 160.

  9. This is so cute. And your daughter is adorable.. I love sailor dresses!!!
    What fun..

  10. That little dress is just too cute. I’d love to have a daughter, just so I can dress her up in cute stuff…but who says I can’t just make a dress and give it to a momma who has a little girl? Hmm….the ideas are spinning 🙂 🙂 I just LOVE vintage-style clothes, too 🙂 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂

    • Hi heather! You could always make a dress and give it to a shelter or some other charity. That would be so nice.

  11. This is so darling! I love the vintage patterns but I’m not anywhere close to being experienced enough to try one! I love seeing them come to life on your blog!

  12. Super cute ~ love the puff sleeves!! Following ~ right back at ya!!!! 😀
    xo
    Heather

  13. I LOVE sailor outfits!!! When my kids were little, sailor outfits were still around for special occasions, but only for boys. I adore this little dress!!!

    • Hi Pam! Funny my friend from south america always dressed her kids in them. Not so much here in the US.

  14. This is precious! I want a grown up version of this for myself, lol.

  16. This is absolutely adorable! You’re daughter is the cutest! I can’t wait to make clothes like this when I have children.

  19. I need to start exploring vintage patterns. I love this little dress. I wish our fashion industry would revisit the apparel that children once wore years ago–so very appropriate compared to styles these days. Thank heavens we can sew, so we can dress our children in the manner we please!

  20. The dress and Darla are absolutely adorable! I loved reading this post.

  23. What a gorgeous dress Justine! I cannot believe you had a pattern dated 1941 – how special! It looks so sweet on your gorgeous little girl 🙂 My brother had a sailor top ( I think there was a pair of shorts to make it a set as well), and I loved wearing it although it was boyish hahaha