A New 1950s Dress for Me

I managed to sew something…or…*finish* something, I should say. Yippee!

A simple dress with a figure-skimming, yet relaxed, fit.

I needed a quick-and-easy project to get me excited about costuming again. 20th century vintage is more like normal clothing, in my book, so I don’t consider it “costuming,” but it’s a wonderful thing to be able to just throw a simple, yet smart, frock together, and wear it out of the house that same afternoon.

I used Advance 6643, the same pattern I made the Sailor Dress from last year, but this time I left the Florentine collar off. I made some notes on the pattern, to drop the waist and shoulders 1/8″ on all seam allowances, to accommodate my long waist, so I made these changes this time too.

Advance 6643

Oddly, after stitching the whole thing together, including the armhole and neckline facings, I put the dress on and ended up taking the shoulders UP by at least an inch on all seam allowances! I have no earthly idea why, but that’s what was needed to get the dress to fit well through the bodice. Weird.

The fabric was a gift from Vintage Dancer. It’s bold, and I love it.

Even with the weird adjustment, it was a fast project, using fabrics entirely from The Stash, and now I have a new vintage dress that fits me-without-a-girdle-thank-goodness. Simples!

What I like best about this pattern is that it is very basic, almost a sloper. I can use this pattern to design all sorts of other dresses from, with various necklines and sleeves. I already have a seed on an idea for a Game-of-Thrones-1950s-Style dress, built on this same basic dress pattern….but that’s for another post. 🙂