1950s Retro Dress
/I am a little behind. That is the story of my life. I ran out of steam and didn't finish the Easter dresses in time for Easter this year. I decided a happy mom spending time with her kids was better than a grumpy one frantically sewing. So, I finished them when I felt like it. The last one didn't get done until July 30.
And that is OK.
My "theme" this year was "upcycled" so this dress was constructed of a thrifted sheet.
My 12yo chose a commercial pattern for her dress this year (Simplicity 8051). It is a retro style with a cute, triangle cutout in the back. We got it for $1 at Joann's so I was willing to give it a try. I have always hated patterns by those big companies. They are anything but "simple" and I would rather draft my own and figure it out myself. (I have found some pdf patterns by smaller designers to be very well done, however.)
She is also at a very awkward, in-between age. By measurements she fit a misses pattern, but I found that it wasn't designed for her body type. I had to remake the entire top and redraft the pattern quite a bit. Even then, I still had to make some changes. It was very frustrating and I could have just drafted it myself from the beginning.
I learned some new techniques with this dress, but I did not like some of the construction process and ended up improving it. It meant a lot of hand stitching. It was tedious, but it looks so much better!
I learned how to do a proper narrow hem on a curve. I was very, very happy with how that turned out.
I also made her a pettiskirt from a ruffled curtain, but she won't wear it. :(
Overall, the dress turned out OK. It isn't my favorite and doesn't fit as well as the ones I draft for her from measurements. It is a fun style, though.
I will be blogging about the rest of the girls' dresses in the next week or so, so keep checking back to see more!
