Category Archives: dress

Simplicity 1578, circa 1945: The Summery Polka-Dot Sundress

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Front view #1.

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Front view #2.

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Front view #3.

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Closeup view: lucite bracelet and faux bakelite black bracelet. (The bruise is probably from getting beaten up at jiu jitsu.)

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The Facts

Fabric: Navy and white polka-dot rayon, $5/yd 60″ wide
Pattern: Simplicity 1578
Year: 1945
Notions: Navy invisible zipper, $1
Time to complete: 16 hours, maybe more
First worn: Never been worn yet!
Wear again? Yes
Total price: $11

Pattern used:

It’s the middle of winter here and since every week has been 30 degrees and freezing. It’s refreshing to work on a summery rayon polka-dot sundress.

I’ve made this pattern once before unsuccessfully. This time around was different.

Construction details:

  • made a muslin (which accounted for the 16+ hours)
  • basted all the seams before sewing it up
  • inserted an invisible zipper in the back
  • used seam bindings for the armholes
  • serged the seams
  • used some leftover navy gabardine for the neckline facing
  • hand-tacked the facing at center front to prevent it from flipping up

Using a fabric with good drape and hand was crucial. The rayon is lightweight and has good drape. This pattern also reminds me why the 40s is my favorite sewing era. I have enough leftover fabric for a skirt, a blouse or shorts and the silhouette is vintage enough to be authentic yet doesn’t look costume-like or overwhelming.

I don’t know how many sleeveless sundresses I’ll be making but this silhouette is definitely a win.

(Cross-posted on Sew Weekly.)

Sewing Fail: 20s-Inspired Dress

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I love documenting my sewing fails as well as my successes since it reminds me that (just like in life) not everything you undertake will be executed to perfection or even turn out well in the long run.

I haven’t finished this dress yet but I can already tell it’s a fail.

I’ve been working on this project here and there this week. I took Colette Jasmine (which worked well for me previously as a blouse) and grafted a skirt on to it, thinking it would be a good drop-waist silhouette dress. The cutting took the longest (more than an hour), and everything was pieced together in half-hour intervals throughout the week.

The sketch started out like this:

A good premise but terrible in either execution or how it actually fits me.

Pros:

  • I like red and it makes my hair look even more black
  • this was some $2/yd fabric I found over the weekend so it’s not a huge loss

Cons:

  • the 20s silhouette is not friendly (or flattering!) to me
  • it looks like a deranged figure-skating outfit
  • chiffon (or crape?) is really hard to work with, especially on the bias
  • the skirt keeps riding up
  • I haven’t worn anything this short since I was five

I’ll probably still go to the 20s event, but break the rules by wearing something modern (read: circa 40s or 50s).

Sewing Inspiration: Wit’s End Dress, circa 1920s

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I have a 20s themed party to go to at the end of the month, and again I have nothing to wear. I don’t have any patterns from the 20s, so I decided to draft something that would look appropriate. Here are some patterns that I found inspiring.

Butterick 1856. I really like the skirt on this one, but the bow on the top part seems a bit much.

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Butterick 1191. I like this dress overall. I have no idea how to do the asymmetrical ruffles on the front part of the skirt — maybe make two ruffles and hand-sew them on, curving upward?

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Unnamed pattern, 5833. I really like the clean lines and the pleat detailing on the skirt, but is it too plain?

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Excella 2576. I really like the skirt treatment. It’s plain but maybe with the right fabric it can work.

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Excella 2576, back view. The pieces look simple enough to drape/draft and mimic.

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McCalls 4704. Or I could always cheat and draft something like this “50s does 20s” pattern.

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I’m sort of on the fence about the boxy dropped-waist silhouette. This might be as flattering as draping a rectangular burlap sack for a dress, but I don’t care, this is what the roaring ’20s is about. Period authentic (yet unflattering?) or flattering but not authentic?

Black Lace Dress, self-drafted

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Closeup view.

Front view.

Our company had a holiday party last week and again I had nothing to wear. This dress was supposed to be made from Simplicity 4298 but right after I finished the muslin, I lost the drive to make it.

So it was back to the drawing board. I wanted something that was easy to make on a deadline, since I had a week to go before the event, with simple clean lines but a unique detail. I came up with a one-shoulder dress with a fitted bodice and tulip-shaped skirt with pleats, loosely based off of a 1940s skirt. I drafted the top based on my bodice block.

Sketch of dress.

I underlined the black lace with a nude colored lining, and it worked well enough for modesty. Fitting was a bit of a pain since the lace stretched and I had to take in the side seams quite a bit. I don’t know how many one-shoulder dresses I need, but I’ll probably use this pattern again for another variation if necessary.

Bodice, work in progress.

Bodice, closeup of lace.

The Formal Masquerade Dress: Simplicity 8155

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We had a work event last week that called for “black tie formal masquerade” and I didn’t have anything to wear.

Pattern used:
Simplicity 4774.

Notes:
I made this dress in about a week, finishing at the eleventh hour at 1 am the night before the event. I made a bodice of the top and used a dirndl skirt for the bottom since I didn’t want to cut into the lace border pattern. I underlined the silver lace with flesh-colored fabric, and it turned out better than I thought.

I’m fine with a dirndl silhouette, as long as there is a belt to hide all the gathering by the waistband. I plan to make this pattern again, making some modifications to the bodice (which is a little too long) and doing the gathering by machine instead of by hand, so it’s more even.