sixteen

Another fine dress shirt lost to an elbow blow-out! As with dress fifteen, this shirt was in great shape except for the worn fabric at the elbow. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the color is beautiful. It's a subtle mint color with a simple gingham pattern.

Since this would be going to the same little girl as dress fifteen, I wanted to make a completely different style. I decided to use the pocket on the front of the shirt as the driving force behind the design and kept it located in the center of the dress. (The pattern of the pocket fabric and the shirt fabric are actually matched so perfectly that it's almost hard to see the pocket in these photos!) This placed the button placket on the right side of the dress.

 

I added a bit of fabric to the pattern on either side of the dress so I could gather the sides a bit for a better fit at the arms but still allow for more fullness in the body. A button piece from one of the cuffs was used for the shoulder opening on the right side to make it as easy as possible to get on and off. I kept the box pleat from the back of the shirt as the back of this sweet dress.