Mama Gets a New Dress - 1950's Style

If you've been following along with any of the 1950's girls dress posts, then you knew I was also working on a dress for myself to wear to my cousins 1940-50's themed wedding, and here it is.

 We looked rather nice I think.  Since I was in such a hurry to get this done, I don't have many pictures.

I used this pattern.  It went together nicely with few alterations.

The fabric, and the scraps.

 

We almost got everyone in the shot.  I wonder where big brother got off too?

Finished 1950's Girl's Dress

Remember the patterns I showed you a while ago?  

Well, here is my daughter's  finished dress based on the Butterick pattern above.  

Above:  My sweet girl with her cousin Cash.

Left:  "Really Mom?"

Below:  My favorite picture.  Isn't the setting gorgeous.  FYI, this was later in the day and she was tired of wearing the crinoline.  I love how  this dress transforms to a 1940's style if you remove it.  She looks so grown up.  

Did you miss something?

Pt. 1- Patterns and Fabric

Pt. 2 - The Crinoline

Pt. 3  - Trick for well matched seams

Up Next
Mama Gets a new Dress

1950 Girls Dress- a few tricks for well matched seams

I was so excited when I found this fabric.  It met my daughter's requirements for "not girly" and was a nice small geometric that I thought would match well.  However, I made a huge mistake by not checking to see that is was printed on the true grain and guess what.  It wasn't.  What I thought would be a quick and easy match job turned into a nightmare!

Luckily, I have a few tricks to deal with that sort of thing, and that starts with the right tools: Lots of pins to help match pattern points, wax crayon to mark cutting lines, and chalk to mark seam lines and pattern marks.

 

I'm a huge fan of chalk, and always mark my seam lines when doing precision sewing.  For the center front piece below, I placed the pattern on the fabric so the center front fell at the center of the fabric design.  I marked the seam with chalk, then folded the fabric right side out along the center front.  Smoothed the fabric gently, then gave several swift taps along the seam line to transfer the chalk to the unmarked side.  Open it up a viola, all the lines have been transferred.

Lots of patience and some fiddling with layout, got  decent results for the shoulder seams above-left.  But nothing could give a perfect continuous pattern match on the center back, so I settled for a mirror image match.  Because the pattern wasn't true to the grain, I ended up sewing the seams from the seams I cared about by hand from the right side.  I went back with my machine to reinforce from the wrong side where necessary. 

With the bodice sewn, it was time to check and see how the skirt was going to fall over the petticoat. 

 Not bad.  though it is hard to get a good feel for the finished product with the seam allowances poking out.  

Up Next
Pt. 4 - Finished Dress

Did you miss something?

Pt. 1- Patterns and Fabric

Pt. 2 - The Crinoline

Sewing a 1940's-50's outfit pt. 2 the crinoline

By the time you read this, I've made not one, but 2 crinolines.  One for myself, and a second one for my daughter.  Considering you can buy one for around $40, I'm not sure I would ever do it again.  This was a rewarding project, but also a real pain in the tush-cus.  

So, why did I do it? 

The short answer is I'm cheap.  I hate to buy what I can make for less, and it just so happens I had an old wedding dress from a friend of a friend's first marriage, and it had tons of crinoline and lining fabric just waiting to be re-purposed.  That made my total expense for both crinolines less that $20.

The construction process was not complicated, but it was time consuming and super annoying trying to wrangle so much fabric.  It's also not something to attempt without a gathering foot, or a pleating attachment for your machine, or an insane amount of patience. 

Sorry folks, there's no tutorial on this one.  Sadly, there was too much of a time crunch. But here is a glimpse at the construction from the bottom up.  

The yoke is cut along the line of the dress through the waist and hips.  For my daughters dress, that means it is fitted with darts.  For mine it was gathered.  A wide strip of gathered and hemmed lining fabric is attached to the bottom of the yoke.  For my daughter, I used organza because it gave a little more umph.

The second layer was made up of crinoline fabric harvested from the wedding dress.  It was cut in strips so the width of the strips was half the distance from the yoke to the hem, plus seam allowances.  These strips were sewn together, gathered with a gathering foot, and stitched along the bottom of the yoke, on top of the lining/organza seam.  A second strip of gathered crinoline, was sewn to the bottom edge of the first, to create a tiered skirt.  I actually sewed the tiers together first, the attached them to the lining.

The first layer of tulle was cut, gathered, and attached in the same tiered manner as the crinoline fabric.  A second, final layer of tulle was sewn in a similar manner to the first, only instead of 2 tiers, it has 3 and is attached to the top edge of the yoke.  

The top of the yoke, was then sewn to a 3" elastic "waistband" and a hook and eye closure harvested from a bra extender kit was sewn to the elastic.  The back seam is left open for about 6-8" below the hooks and eyes. 

My Petticoat was done in a similar manner to my daughters, using light green tulle instead of blue.     

With everything assembled, the final step is to hang the petticoat on the mannequin and trim the bottom edge where needed so the layers are even.

Next up, 

Pt. 3 Matching Seams
Pt. 4 Finished Dress

Did You miss Pt. 1?
Sewing a 1940-50's Girls Outfit

  

Sewing a 1940's-50's Girl's Outfit - Pt. 1

Last week, I offered up my post "Cake and Crinoline" as an explanation for why I'm putting my other projects on hold.  I'll be showing off the cake on this week's "Fun Food Friday".  

But you won't have to wait that long to get a glimpse of the Crinoline part of that post. 

With only 16 days until the wedding, it is time to get serious about making outfits for the upcoming 1940's/50's themed wedding.
.   

Step 1  Find a pattern.  
With so little time, I have no interest in drafting 2 patterns from scratch.   Luckily, I picked up these 3 vintage patterns at a yard sale about 7 years ago.  A quick rummage through my pattern file, and they are now in my hands.  

As I scan the back of the envelope, I feel a rush of excitement.  Could it be  true?  I double check the numbers.  YES!!!!!  The Butterick pattern (the bigger image) is just the right size for my daughter.  A chorus of angels begins to sing, while rainbows, and songbirds fill the air. 

O.K., not really, but I was very happy.   

Step 2  Find the fabric.

I found so many adorable vintage style prints that would have been perfect, and every single one was shot down by my daughter who insisted in THE TONE.

 Her:
"mom, you know I'm kind of into solids, right?"  

Me:

 "o.k. come to the fabric store and help me pick something out."

Her:

Silent, as a look of terror spreads across her face.

 Despite my threats of choosing something very pink 

(she wanted blue) 

with huge cabbage roses and lots of frilly stuff 

(we're in that I don't want to be cutesy phase)

I ended up at the store alone.

Sigh.......

Finally, after a ridiculous amount of agonizing on my part,  I choose a very simple fabric with a grid of dotted white lines forming diamonds on a blue back ground.   

The verdict:

"It's nice" she says.

Next time, kiddo, it's cabbage roses all the way!!

Step 3 Fit the bodice.
This is when things got tricky.  In my excitement to choose a pattern, I didn't realize the front bodice pattern piece was missing. Luckily, the front facing was there. I used it along with the back bodice section to draft a new piece for the front.  I have plenty of muslin on hand, so I cut out the bodice section, basted it together and tried it on her.

Hmm... a bit long and blousy.  But what did I expect, the kids got a high natural waste and she's still on the willowy side.
A few strategically placed pins later, and all was well.  I marked a new waistline and released her from the "torture"(her word) of fitting.

Next up, 

Pt. 2 The Crinoline

Pt. 3 Matching Seams
Pt. 4 Finished Dress

Cake and Crinoline

As if I didn't have enough unfinished projects. (grin)

I haven't forgotten about the charging station plan, or Freddie Mae's cabinet, nor the multitude of other projects I've finished and am just waiting to blog.  And I haven't completely forgotten about my garden just yet either.  However, they are all going on the back burner while I work on 2 very important projects and they will be 

FUN!

The first  is a cake that a friend has commissioned for her little girl.  It's "Frozen" themed, 3 tiered, with blue and white swirled vanilla cake, iced in butter cream, and embellished with figurines (provided by the mom), and white chocolate snowflakes.  It is due for delivery this Sat.  so Hopefully I'll have nice entry on that coming up.

The second project is for my cousins wedding at the end of September.  They are having a 1940's/1950's theme and have encouraged guests to come in costume.  I am so excited about this.  My cousin and his intended are amazing, intelligent, and vibrant  people so I know this event will be unforgettable.  Still, it'll be a challenge to get an ensemble for myself and my daughter done in time.  With choices to make regarding patterns, fabrics, hairstyles, and accessories, my decision making skills are going to be strained to the limit, and  I can't wait to get started.  

Check back in later to see my progress. For now, I'm off to visit every crafts, fabric, and cake supply store in the city. 

Wish me luck!