I finally got around to sewing Rosemary her 30's dress. She has been very patient only hinting once and awhile with a, "Sooo Mamma....how's the dress coming along?" I can now say, "It's done!"
This is the pattern I bought from Ebay just to remind you. I decided to make the dress on the bottom left because it's super fluffy. My mother emailed me to inform me that the garment I was going to make was a blouse attached to a under-slip, not a full dress. Argh. Nothing is easy. Do I make it the right way and do more work but maintain historical accuracy or lame out and make the slip/shirt into a dress anyway? I chose to take the high road with some minor adjustments after I talked to Rosemary.
The fabric. Rosemary loved the idea of the slip, but she wasn't too thrilled about the suspenders, peter pan collar, or puffy sleeves. I didn't care very much about the suspenders because they aren't really my thing either, but I was excited about the collar and sleeves. Come on! The 30's! (And do you notice how short the skirts are?) We compromised. The sleeves are in and the collar is out.
The old original patterns don't have markings on them. They just have a series of holes in them to let you know where the grain-line is, certain markings, and pattern piece. You can see an upside-down letter "L" marked out in holes on this pattern. The two larger holes closest to you represent center fold. Look how much length I needed to add to this super short skirt.
Here is the bodice attached to the under-slip. (I didn't lame out Mom! Aren't you proud of me?) The waist-line is elasticized on the inside. I sewed a large snap in center front to hold the over skirt in place.
A happy little girl!
(Ignore the blue markings around the button-holes. I still need to clean them up a bit!) I chose to use a soft crochet-like lace for this dress. I'm really into this style of lace of late. It just looks so delicate and is really soft to touch. I chose a small round burnt gold button to stand out a bit from the cream and give it a sturdier look. I got my puffed lacy sleeves! Instead of the peter pan collar, I made a super small stand-up collar so her neck could still be framed in some lace. Lace lace lace!
Here is a view of all the pieces together. I made the over circle-skirt a bit shorter so that the lace from the under-slip would most definitely stick out. I didn't want to mess with a, "Is something sticking out? Is it supposed to?" It's sticking out alright! You can see how the front waistband is NOT moving because of the killer snap I put in there. Before I did that, the under-slip would creep up a bit.
Voila! This is what it all comes down to. How well does your dress twirl? I would say this one is a 10! What do you think?
Love, Rachel