2. Stitch sleeve-bands in place, as for Morning Dress.
3. Make placket and make button-holes, and sew on buttons.
5. Face (right side of) bottom of dress with skirt trimming-band in the following way:
On the wrong side of the skirt, lay the skirt trimming-band with the lower edge even with the bottom of the skirt.
Baste. Stitch one-quarter inch from edge.
[Illustration: Sew belt fast through a button]
6. Remove bastings. Turn band over to right side.
Crease along the seam. Baste along the seam.
Turn in edge of trimming-band (or facing) one-quarter inch.
Baste band flat against dress. Stitch (or hem) in place.
7. Make each belt in same way as belt for rompers.
8. Make two collars in same way as collar for fur-lined cape. Pattern 17.
9. Sew collars fast to dress, first pinning notch to the fold-crease of the shoulder at the neck.
Attach collars to dress in same way as underwaist to flannel petticoat.
[Illustration: Lay edge of skirt on trimming band]
10. Pin belts in place shown on pattern. Fasten each belt in two places only. On the point, which lies over a plait, sew belt fast, through a button.
These belts hold the fullness of the dress, under arms, in place.
_Best wishes to the little girl who “tries.”_
[Illustration: “Can you get along without our help?”]
“How beautiful!” exclaimed Mary Frances. “Please thank His Majesty, dear Thimble People.”
“Can you get along without our help, please?” asked Scissors Shears.
“Well,” said Mary Frances, “the Needle-of-Don’t-Have-to-Try, you know,―”
“But,” said Scissors Shears, hopping up and down, “what I want to know is,―can you cut all that without help? May I ask what goods you will use for the afternoon dress?”
“This pretty red-dotted lawn,” said Mary Frances, “and this fine white lawn for the guimpe!”
“Will you, may I ask, please,―will you leave the lawn and pattern on the sewing table?”
“Oh, I know!” cried Mary Frances. “You want to help by cutting them out, Scissors Shears―but I will do my own _making_,―thank you.”
When the afternoon dress was finished, Mary Frances slipped it on Mary Marie, sat her in her rocking chair, then stepped outside, and peeped in to see what the Thimble People would do. In a minute, they gathered in a circle around the pretty doll, and began singing: