Civil War costumers across America are likely familiar with this pattern from Simplicity dating to the early 00s. The pink and white plaid with black trim is strikingly lovely. It’s out of print now but copies can be found on eBay.

I always loved the color scheme of the pink and black, so for this year’s Christmas gift for my sister’s doll, Dottie, I decided to recreate it. It all started while browsing fabric and I came across a pretty pink gingham. Pink is my sister’s favorite color and while this isn’t the exact pink plaid of the inspiration, I think Dottie won’t mind.

Following the Elizabeth Stewart Clark pattern for Dottie & her clothes I put together the bodice fairly quickly, making sure to match the gingham design direction as best I could. When it came to the applied decoration I originally wanted to do some kind of laid work as the inspiration garment would have featured applied ribbon or gimp. But as I looked into it further, I decided instead to embroider the trim. I’m fairly good at a split stitch, so that’s what I used.

I did the sleeve stitching before closing the inner seam to facilitate the stitching. While the pattern shows a lot more elaborate trim, this is a doll dress afterall so it’s less embellished for Dottie. Sorry, Dottie. I hope the faux undersleeves I added will make up for it.

You will see here on the bodice I have simplified the trims because it’s just not big enough for the second section of trim. I did my best to make this as fitted as is practical to mimic the look.

I also took some liberty with the skirt trim by not creating the secondary “box” within each of the square forms. It’s a lot of embroidery haha, I started on the project in October for just that reason. My fingers are tired. But, I think the buttons look pretty and they have a little floral design etched into them.

I also had to make the skirt from two 12” sections of fabric instead on one continuous piece due to the direction of the gingham. So there are side seams and I made a finished slash opening at the back.

Final finishing was, as always, a dream – these pieces are virtually flawless due to the excellent pattern instructions. Emalie modeled the dress for photos and I suspect she is a little jealous. She hasn’t had a new dress in a few years.