Little Dress On The Prairie

There I am, scrolling on social media, and I see cousin Brandi in Missouri, asking if anyone has a little girl’s prairie dress she could borrow. I’m intrigued so I asked her why she needed one. Apparently her daughter Reagan, a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, wanted to wear a dress and bonnet to the upcoming “Prairie Days” at school. When did she need it by was my next question. She told me and I knew I had time to make it! “Send me her measurements!”, I said, of course I had a pattern in my collection. The rest is history!

Here’s Reagan after a successful visit to Laura’s house in Mansfield, Missouri. She’s been reading the “Little House On The Prairie” books, and got a new one that day.

Like most Laura Ingalls Wilder fans, Reagan likes the television show as well. Brandi told me that blue is Reagan’s favorite color, so I decided to make her dress to resemble Laura’s from the tv show.

I decided to make the bonnet first. I figured I needed the practice since this was the first one I had ever made. I picked out this white with purple flowers fabric to make the first one out of. Why the need for such perfection? Well, I told Mia I was making a “Laura Ingalls” dress, and she got really excited.

Mia was and is a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. When she was a little girl she had her own blue prairie dress and yellow bonnet. My mom had made them for little Mia. She wore the dress until she couldn’t anymore. She would wear her bonnet all around the yard, pretending to be Laura out on the prairie. At night she would wear a sleeping cap that my mom had also made her. She wore the elastic out of it!

Mia emphasized how important her Laura dress and bonnet were to her, so she just knew that Reagan needed perfection in a prairie ensemble. The bar was set high!

Here’s the other pieces of the practice bonnet laid out and ready to be cut.

The pattern for the bonnet called for a piece of bias tape to run across the back, inside of the bonnet. Elastic would then be run through and hidden by it. I decided to make my own bias tape rather than use pre-made, packaged bias tape. To make bias tape you cut the fabric diagonally, across the grain. This makes the fabric stretchy.

Here I am cutting a two inch strip.

I have this neat little tool, a bias tape maker. You put the strip of fabric into it, it folds it, and you iron it!

Perfect bias tape every time! Here is the piece of bias tape pinned into place.

I got the bonnet assembled and it turned out pretty good. There were some things I knew I wanted to do differently on the one for Reagan. I wanted the ties to be wider, and there were some finishing things I wanted to do differently. Good thing I practiced first!

In the meantime, Mia sent me this picture. She packed up her childhood bonnet and it moved to Georgia with her. Bonnets are serious business to “Little House” fans!

I got to work on the bonnet.

With just a few pieces, the bonnet was easily cut out.

I again made matching bias tape.

Stitching down the brim.

I then had to start the dress itself! I laid out the pattern pieces.

Marking the darts.

Getting them pinned to be sewn.

The front bodice darts. Pinned and ready to be sewn.

I had this lace trim for the front. I thought it would be perfect. Lace back in Laura’s days would have been crocheted or tatted, so this had the look I was going for.

I carefully measured from the center of the dress to make sure it would be on the dress straight.

The second piece of lace, pinned and ready to be sewn.

Sewing it all together!

Then came the gathering of the skirt. This skirt has three, very full pieces to it. The directions for the skirt look like this, yikes! I had my seam ripper ready! HA!

See! There was lots of fabric to this skirt!

I started gathering it.

While I stress over this skirt, here are some pictures of Mia when we went to Missouri, to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder’s house for ourselves.

Here’s Mia in front of Laura and Almanzo’s farm house.

Up on Laura’s porch.

Mia posing with the television series Ingalls family. I had read somewhere that the Little House on the Prairie television show has never been off the air. The reruns have never stopped playing on one network or another.

As a child of the 70’s and 80’s, this is the Laura I grew up with. I wanted to live on the prairie too, and I also couldn’t stand that Nelly Oleson! HA!

Mary and Laura’s actual school slates, and Laura’s sewing box.

But now back to the sew!

Much to my pleasant surprise, the skirt gathered well, and attached to the bodice right, the first time!

I pinned the zipper into place.

Sewing the zipper.

There was also lace trim around the collar. I got it pinned into place.

Prepping the collar to get attached.

Sewing on the collar.

So let’s talk about buttons. In the 1800’s buttons were carved out of shells. They really came into fashion after the Civil War. Laura Ingalls was born two years after the end of the Civil War, in 1867. Shell carved buttons would have been something she probably wore herself. For this dress I pulled some antique shell buttons out of my button collection.

As you can see they’re worn, and it was sort of hard to find several that were the same size. I managed! Although old, shell buttons are very common. I’m sure if you looked through any older button collection you would find them. These came from various button jars I’ve purchased and sorted over the years. You can tell they’re shell buttons by the look of them, and the way they feel. They’re definitely not plastic.

I sewed the buttons into place. Any Laura fan needs era shell buttons!

And the dress was done!

Complete with a yellow bonnet!

The whole ensemble was ready to send.

Complete with a custom name tag! There was still one more thing I had to do though!

No “Little House” fan would be complete without a sleeping cap! Mia told me I had to make Reagan one!

So here I am, cutting it out.

It’s two pieces of fabric with elastic run around the inside. It was really easy to make!

So off it all went to Missouri, and here’s Reagan! Ready for Pioneer Day at school, in a very custom outfit!

She wanted to carry her books to school like Mary and Laura, so she tied them up with a piece of twine.

She looks just like she stepped off a covered wagon!

Did I mention that the sleeves also had lace trim? No? Well they do!

Ready for school, or to cross a prairie!

At school she enjoyed a piece of candy, and had a chalk slate of her own! I have no doubt that she was the best dressed on Prairie Day!

Reagan writing with ink and a quill pen, 100% best dressed!

Brandi said she couldn’t wait to sleep in her sleeping cap, just like Laura and Mary.

Here’s the real Laura (standing), Mary (middle), and Carrie (far left).

Laura the author, and Laura the young woman.

Almanzo and Laura on their Missouri farm.

Right down the street from Laura’s farm house is her and Almanzo’s final resting place. We visited that as well, to pay our respects. Mia picked wildflowers from Laura’s yard, and brought them to her and Almanzo.

What a wonderful legacy Laura Ingalls Wilder leaves us all. So many people, and little girls have been fascinated by her family history and stories. She’s an inspiration to me too! So thank you Laura, for taking the time to tell your stories!

As for me, onto the next!