Pattern: Vintage Simplicity 3417, bust 34”
Fabric: I had 3 metres; didn’t cut very
economically because I pattern matched =)
Haberdasheries: Three buttons, a 30 cm zipper,
a belt clasp and waist band
A few years ago I made a 1940s dress
using this pattern and I wanted to use it again, but with some alterations.
With hindsight, I find the bodice of that dress too long and baggy; even though
it’s an authentic look for the 1940s, I just don’t like to look like I’ve got a
roll of fat that I don’t! And since I don’t exactly follow today’s fashion, I
hardly think I would have been without personal taste at the time ;).
I took 10 centimetres (!!!) out of the bodice width, despite this
pattern being for a 34” bust, which should be slightly small for me. Simplicity
patterns just had sooo much wearing ease! Because of the additional length in
the bodice of my first dress, I expected that I’d have to take some length out
as well, but I came to the conclusion that I must have added the additional
length myself, which obviously I shouldn’t have done! So I only shortened the
skirt, as I did for my first dress as well.
It took me a while to find a suitable fabric; most fabrics I saw in
stores didn’t really have a ‘40s vibe for me. Until I read something about
plaid (or tartan, as I prefer to call it ;)) fabrics being quite usual at the time, and I
remembered this fabric that I’d seen at my local fabric store ages ago, but knowing
their turnover rate, I suspected they’d still have. I like it because it’s
almost Gordon dress tartan. The thin white lines should just have been yellow! And
I already had a matching self-knitted cardigan.
According to the label the fabric was 80% cotton and 20% poly, but as I
was working with it I thought: “yeah right!” Sadly, it doesn’t feel like cotton
at all, although it can be ironed well without melting.
I pattern matched everything as well as I could, lining up the lines on
the different pattern pieces by pinning them in place.
And of course, I had lots of feline sewing help! Thankfully she didn’t
attack the fabric and make loops in it.
Because of the colour scheme of this fabric, for once I didn’t have
difficulty finding a matchting zipper, buttons and belt fabric!
The buttons are vintage, from about the 1960s, and have a nice story to
them. My grandfather was director of a button factory at the time, and my
mother was sewing herself a green skirtsuit. So my grandfather had buttons made
to match her fabric! I guess these were the surplus buttons; in any case, I
liked using them on my dress.
I first wore this dress to an event in remembrance of Market Garden 1944.
The re-enactment group War Department did a stunning and impressive portrayal
of a field hospital, and I even got to depict a Dutch civilian helping there!
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| Photo by Menno Bausch |
