Well, hello there everyone! Long time! I've been busy sewing since I've been back, hit with an inspiration bug during some down time in work, which is nice. I don't want to go back to work now! Anyway, I'll get around to posting some things eventually. I just want to sew sew SEW!
The other 'hello there' is to this dress! Which was finished over a year ago and never made it to the picture taking stage. Never even made it to the wearing stage. I don't entirely know why. The waist stay was in wrong, could that have been the entire reason? I vaguely remember it being too tight, maybe? There really is no rhyme or reason to it, it happens to a lot of my creations. It never even made it out of the sewing room and into my closet. But I went to a jazz concert last night and thought, hey, I remember this dress, let's wear that!
So, it made it out of the sewing room! I love 50's styles, why did I wait so long? Even snapped a few pictures while I was waiting for the concert hall to open. Hard to see the details in the lighting, I might take a few more inside... And I decided to shorten my crinoline, it is always just an inch too long for my dresses and I love the look of the full skirt, I so rarely buy enough fabric to make vintage skirts, I need to take advantage of it!
Unfortunately, I made this dress so long ago that I don't remember any construction notes. The fabric is a light-weight cotton from Joann's. Frayed like the devil. I do remember the welted buttonholes being particularly fun.
If I ever made it again I would pinch the neckline a bit so that the shoulders didn't have the tendency to slip down so much. I was wearing a strapless underneath, but it was still a little annoying. I might put a small piece of elastic on the underside of the shoulder/neck and see if that helps.
The skirt is way fuller than it looks in the pictures, the fabric just hangs really well. And if you are thinking about making this pattern and wanted to not be worried about bra straps showing, I would 1) make strap holders on the shoulders, and 2) raise the back up an inch or so.
