I have a crazy love of vintage patterns, and I desperately wanted to try something from the 40s. I stumbled across this pattern at a vintage shop in St. Louis, and dug through my stash to find the perfect fabric! The front center seam was just begging for a chevron design, but this presented quite an issue during cutting. As you can see, it turned out pretty darn good! The dress is a bit thin, so I
had get to wear a slip with it.
This dress is a typical 40s silhouette with a snug neckline and broad shoulders. The top is a bit loose because there aren't any darts--just the pleats in the neckline and in the back. The pattern calls for shoulder pads, and at the risk of looking like a linebacker, I just might put some in.
In all, the dress took about 7 hours to complete (this includes the difficult cutting and redoing the neckline--
twice). But hey, I'm still learning!
An added bonus--I went to the Springfield Antiques Expo this month, and found the perfect Bakelite jewelry to go with the dress! I was hoping for red, but the orange matched nicely (and was a bit less pricey).
I would like to make this dress again with longer sleeves and I might try wool or gabardine to make it a bit dressier. I also did not do any top-stitching,but I will next time I crank out one of these beauties.
Sew on,
Christina
