Two project posts in one month!....look at me! This is my entry for the Vintage Contest on PatternReview.com.(PR).
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| Front view with belt |
An easy project with great reward. Ten pattern pieces total. Four for the front, back and sides of the dress. The fabric, which I rescued from my stash after having been there many years, is a black rayon challis with some decent stretch to it.
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| Front view without belt |
I was searching for a muslin fabric but found this and decided to use it as the final fabric. The only adjustment that I had to make was to shorten the overall length of the dress by 2".
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| Gotta love a dress that passes the "TWIRL" test! |
My sister found this pattern at a thrift store in Martinsville, VA about three years ago. I'm not sure what she paid for it but of course it could not have been much. The pattern itself cost $.50 in 1965.
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| Somewhat of a side view. |
The most interesting thing about the construction was attaching the neck interfacings to the actual dress instead of to the neck facings themselves. In addition, I stitched a "sleeve facing" to the lower edge of the sleeve then stitched a rayon binding to the sleeve facing. I then slipstitched the binding to the sleeve creating a nice finished hem.
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| Back view with belt |
There were three suggestions for finishing the seams: 1) serge (which I did), 2) trim with pinking shears (which I seriously considered) and 3) finish the seams with binding (which I eventually want to get into the habit of doing).
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| Bow detail |
I used binding on the sleeves, the zipper (my idea) and the hem of the dress. All of the seam binding in Virginia's stash is 100% rayon however when I went to the fabric store to replenish they had a polyester blend which was very stiff in comparison and just not very nice.
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| Back view without a belt |
I guess that means I'll be placing an order for some "Hug Snug" real soon. I read some information about it and one blogger in particular highly recommends it and provides a tutorial on how to apply it.
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| More details |
Well.....I've held you long enough. More details about my sewing experience on the PR website. Thanks for stopping by!
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| Belt change |
