Primrose · 1980s Embroidered Yellow Gingham Baby Dress
Yellow gingham cotton · hand-embroidered flowers and butterfly · broderie anglaise frill · back buttons · 1980s to 1990s · AU size 2-3, approx 2-3 years
Pale yellow gingham hand-embroidered with a scattered garden: flower sprigs across the skirt, a small butterfly at the collar, each motif placed where someone thought it should go. You can feel the embroidery if you run a finger across the surface: each stitch placed individually, raised slightly from the cloth beneath it.
1980s to 1990s by its cloth and its trims. Below the skirt hem, two tiers of white broderie anglaise frill, sewn into the dress as its own petticoat layer, carefully cut, joined, and attached. Broderie anglaise is eyelet embroidery, the holes punched and overcast by hand or machine, the resulting openwork giving the frill its particular lightness. A back button closure, a round neck, no sleeves: the components of a dress that was made for a birthday or a christening, for an occasion worth keeping for. Kept in very good condition.
Care
Warm gentle wash. Treat the eyelet kindly. Line dry. Press warm with the embroidery face-down so the stitches stay proud.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 43cm, chest 27cm, waist 26cm, skirt width 55cm. Fits approximately AU size 2-3, around 2 to 3 years.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Very good. The gingham is cheerful and sound, the hand embroidery complete, the broderie anglaise frill fresh.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
The butterfly settled on the collar first, and the flowers arranged themselves down the skirt to keep it company, which is the polite thing a scattered garden does for a guest. Yellow gingham keeps a small standing supply of morning folded into it, so the dress runs a little sunnier than whatever day it is worn on. The broderie anglaise frill is full of tiny punched holes, and everybody knows a garden needs holes for the small things to come and go through. Kept for one occasion, it has been quietly rehearsing that occasion ever since.