Drapes and the Melody

I have this vintage pattern.. okay so maybe it isn't vintage.. It was printed in 1983. Which happens to be the year I was born. Anyway, this pattern is for a toddler dress, in very 80s fashion, which I happen to LOVE. What made me NEED to make this pattern is the model on the front of the package.



See? I call this dress the Melody, after my little sister, who looked exactly like this at that age...



SEE??

So, I've had this in my to-do pile for over a year, waiting for the perfect fabric to use. I finally got it. Back when I was a bow-making fool, I made a black and cream toile bow, because I love toile.



I had nothing that matched it, but I didn't let it stop me. Black and white goes with anything, right? Right. Well, now that my daughter is almost three, and has never worn it, it was time to order the toile fabric and MAKE a dress to match this bow. Backwards, I know. Anyway, here's my version of this dress:



I added some length to it, and did knots at the shoulders instead of buttons. My girl loves it! Actually, she just loves dresses, so it's pretty easy to please her.



Yes, toile. But when I received the fabric, it looked eerily like my shower curtain in the guest bathroom.



Eerie like an identical twin. Which made me think, "My child is wearing a shower curtain." Which made me think of my all-time favorite movie, The Sound of Music. Maria makes the children "playclothes" out of the old drapes that were taken down out of her room, much to the chagrin of the captain. The exact exchange from the movie:

Captain: Is it possible, or could I have just imagined? Have my children by any chance been climbing trees today?
Maria: Yes, Captain.
Captain: I see. And where, may I ask, did they get these, uhm, these...
Maria: Playclothes.
Captain: Oh, is that what you call them?
Maria: I made them, from the drapes that used to hang in my bedroom...They still had plenty of wear left. The children have been everywhere in them.
Captain: Do you mean to tell me that my children have been roaming about Salzburg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes?!
Maria: (affirming) Umm, hmm, and having a marvelous time.



So, in conclusion, the dress reminds me of my sister. And a shower curtain. And I love it.

*As a side note to all my sewing friends, the instructions for all three views of this pattern were printed on front and back on ONE page! Can you even imagine a pattern these days with instructions on only one page?? It was not for the novice pattern-reader, I'll tell you that much. It was very abbreviated, to say the least!