The St. Paddy's Day Dress Part 2: The Curse of the Busy Print

I love my St. Patrick's Day dress. It's comfortable and fun to wear, however, I discovered something interesting while wearing and photographing it. Due to the busy nature of the print, the details are rendered invisible...which makes me think I needn't have bothered with the details.

Somewhere in this photo are a belt and two pockets. 

The pockets on the dress are adorable, fun to make...

and invisible:

The belt is really cute...

and invisible:

Granted if you get close, you can see them...but I don't know if I want people squinting at my midsection, trying to make out details.

Next time around, I'm making the dress out of linen--solid-colored linen that will show detail--and I'm going to embroider the neckline and pocket using the iron-on design that came with the pattern. The pattern front assures me that the embroidery is "simple to make" and I'm hoping they mean simple for a person like me.

 Below is a photo of my first embroidery project, which I started when I was ten. I keep it to remind me not to start embroidery projects. It was supposed to be a bib for my baby cousin. You might notice that it's not a bib...that's because I think my baby cousin was in junior high by the time I finished it.

But I gave quilting cotton another try and really love my dress, so maybe I'll have similar luck when I try my hand once again at embroidery. Stay tuned...

The St. Paddy's Day Dress Part 1

I fell in love with this print when I saw it in the quilting section of a fabric store. It's been a long time since I've made anything out of a good old quilting cotton, so I thought why not? It'll be perfect for St. Patrick's Day. [Side note: Once upon a time, the only fabric I had available to me was quilting cotton, so that's what I made my dresses out of. Many was the time that some well-intentioned soul would seek me out to tell me that my frock matched their pillows, quilt, bedspread, curtains, etc. Because of that, as soon as I had another source of fabric, I abandoned quilting cotton and never looked back...until now.]

For the pattern I chose was Simplicity 3608 from 1951. I'll definitely make this pattern again.

I had to grade it up one size and shorten it 6 inches.

A dress like this calls for a smart belt. Fortunately I had just the belt kit in my stash of stuff.

The dress features an actual kick pleat instead of a slit. Here's the underside (kind of hard to see, but if you look closely you can see the fabric backing for the pleat:

And the right side...

Kick pleat in action...

I had a hard time deciding how to do the shoulder tabs. The pattern shows them sticking up. 

And here they are tacked down:

I tried wearing them sticking up, but they kind of bothered me. Here I am in San Francisco, the day  before St. Patrick's Day with my shoulder tabs sticking up. After we got done taking the photos, I tacked the shoulder tabs down. I prefer them that way.

Another shot of the dress. The sun was so bright everything washed out, but I think you can see the fit.

Before we got done taking photos, I made a friend...

One thing I really loved about this dress and the fabric, is that it didn't wrinkle. I packed the dress in a small suitcase, pulled it out a day later and it looked like I'd taken it off the hanger. If no one tells me that I match their cushions in the next few days, I might just make another sortie into the quilting cotton section of the fabric store.

Vogue 8850

This is the finished dress looking dramatic
against the curtains that hide my pressure
tanks. 

As I continue my stash/slash mission, I decided to tackle Vogue 8850, a 1951 design. Since my last two experiences with Vogue re-issues have been challenging (although they ultimately had happy endings), I decided that this time I would make a muslin. And not a slap dash muslin like the one that got me into trouble with Vogue 1136.

In the fabric stash I found some rather strange midnight blue rayon that I'd bought to make my 1940s Sew for Victory outfit last spring. I ended up making a linen suit, so the rayon was taking up space.

When I say that the rayon is strange, I mean that although it drapes well, it has a cheap-suit shine to it and seems to be more of a costume fabric than a wearing fabric. I also found out that it scalds easily and that super glue melts it. (Don't ask.)  

Apparently the third time is a charm for Vogue re-issues, or maybe I've just gotten wiser, because this dress went together easily.The top was a lot of fun. It required chalk lines and basting and actually paying close attention to the directions instead of glancing quickly at the pictures before making command decisions.

The shoulder drape is made by gathering part of the right front bodice and sewing it to the tab. 

A separate piece of fabric is attached to the left front bodice to make the lower bodice drape.

I adjusted for sloping shoulders and a high waist before sewing things together for a change, and the bodice fit well. Since this is technically a muslin, I did something I rarely do and pinked the edges instead of finishing them.

The drape is the reason I made this dress. I mean, who doesn't love a drape? It's a large semi-circle of fabric, gathered and attached at the waist so that it appears to be one with the shoulder drape.

I hung the dress for a couple days before hemming, just in case the drape stretched. Guess what? It stretched.

I hand rolled the hem of the drape for practice. I've always meant to learn to hand roll a hem, but never actually tackled the job until now. It came out well and I'd do it again, but I might wait until I have a football game or something to watch on TV.

And here I am in the dress. If I make it again (after reducing the stash, of course) I think I'll make it in charmeuse, just to add to the fun. I think the fluidity of charmeuse in this design would be stunning.

All in all, this was a good experience and now I know how to tackle the fit problems I've had with Vogue re-issues. 

In a side note, I've now reduced my stash by 10 yards of fabric! Next up...a sun dress.

. 

Fun Things on the Bodice Pattern

When I discovered the 1944 newspaper bodice pattern in Simplicity 4343, I showed it to my husband. Five minutes later, he was still engrossed in the bodice. I asked what he was doing and he said he was reading a Chop Suey recipe.

Sure enough...

I took the bodice pattern away from him and began to read. I caught up on some classic comics--Dick Tracy, Gasoline Alley, Orphan Annie.

Joe Palooka was unfortunately cut off.

I learned that as part of the War Agencies Regulations, paint manufacturers could not deliver more than one gallon of aluminum paint per month to any retailer. I read Ernie Pyle's column.

I discovered that if you're a teenager with heavy ankles, you can reduce the size of your ankles by doing push ups against a wall with your heels on the floor, and by sitting in a chair and making large circles with your feet.

There were war menus, which drove home the point of how fortunate we are to not have to ration food.

I learned how to turn a baking soda can into an inexpensive dicer.

I found a mail order slip pattern that I'd like to make:

All that and more on one bodice pattern--perhaps the most educational pattern piece I've ever read.

Look Alike Simplicities

After I blogged about my blue poplin 1940s dress, a friend of mine mentioned that she'd love to have a pattern like the one I originally tried to use for the project, but couldn't because it was missing pieces--Simplicity 3517.

I found one that was similar and ordered it, intending to give it to her.

It wasn't until it arrived that I realized just how similar it was.

The pattern on the right has a 1940 copyright date printed on it. The other pattern has no date. I looked it up on Vintage Patterns Wikia and discovered that it was from the early to mid-1940s but there was no definite copyright date. There was, however,  a newspaper tracing of the bodice inside the envelope, dated 1944.

I think it's interesting that on both patterns the blond has longer hair, wears the blue dress, has gloves and a red hat. The other model has shorter light brown hair, wears the yellowish dress and has no gloves.

I wondered if the colors, styling, etc, were simply coincidences...and then my boxy 1940s coat patterns arrived.

Hmmm.

It's obvious that the coat on the right, which has a 1947 copyright and a lot of fabric, is influenced by the post war New Look. The one on the left is early to mid-1940s and uses a lot less fabric. However, the blond gets the red coat, the brunette, the blue plaid.

I guess the moral of the story is that once Simplicity found a pattern cover formula that worked, they stuck with it until it didn't work any more.

I do the same thing with my hair style.

My First Re-Issue

I'm please to announce that the third book I wrote, The Brother Returns is being re-released as part of a Western Romance Collection by Harlequin in March. I have another book, Cowboy Comes Back, being reissued in April.

I love the guy on this cover. When the photo shoot was going on, my editor emailed me to tell me how hot he was. They were actually doing the shoot for a Harlequin Intrigue book, but something happened (I never found out what) and in the end, I got him for my cover. Hurray for whatever happened.