The Sad New Year Dress

I made this great News Years Eve dress from clearance fabric I rescued from Joann's. It's peacock blue and black stretch taffeta. I have never sewn with it before and it was surprisingly easy. The only unfortunate thing was that it never got worn. Finding a babysitter on a party holiday is a drag. It's a great fit too. Silly Butterick wanted like 5 inches of ease; um no. It's a fitted dress not a potato sack so I cut it 2 sizes smaller. Because the taffeta was so light and wiggly I made the fuller A-line skirt slimmer. Initially the side skirt seams were folding inward towards my legs but once I cut it down the side seams stayed put.

I also made the slim skirt version without the band. I used the same sizing for the slim skirt as I did for the A-line and somehow the bodice and body are about 2 decent inches too small. It's a good thing I made it from a thrifted poly stretch knit. It still fits but if a gain a few pounds I'll look bunchy. I will most likely make another slim skirt version (a bit bigger too). This pattern only had 4 main pieces so it too was a breeze to sew.

Ugh

Blogger, you are eating my posts.

Anne Adams 4901

Here is my latest creation, an undated mail order pattern from the 1940s. It was a breeze to sew and only took about 3 hours to put together. The material is some sort of colonial print that I thrifted from Goodwill. It was a couple yards of fabric sewn into a tablecloth. I got it in a huge bag of fabric for $3.99. For the price per yard it was probably $0.50 when you break it down. It's a really thick and soft cotton, much like that of a sateen bed sheet. The buttons are vintage from my stash. I used French seams and then sewed them flat like a faux flat felled seam. The panel insert in the middle of the dress was an interesting piece of sewing. All you were supposed to do was turn under the top corner parts of the side dress panels and baste then sew the inset panel flat to the underside. It does lie nice and flat but there was very little room to do any type of seam binding. I tried every way of doing the panel differently but it just wouldn't work. In the end I just did what the directions said and top stitched it. Then I went back over the edges and the neck facing edges too with a small and tight zig zag. I long ago broke my overcasting foot and sorely miss it. I am so pleased with how this look turned out that I'm looking for 1940s colors solid fabric to make a couple more (Joann Fabrics is soon carrying Aunt Edna and I cannot wait!!). The fit is just beyond awesome and there are so many ways to jazz it up. Using the ruffles and a crazy print made this jumper look like a house dress (which is what I was aiming for). And no zippers to boot! I can't wait for it to warm up so I can wear it.