Sunday, August 29, 2010

1930's Style Red and Cream Cotton Dress

At last I have some pictures of my 1930's style red and cream dress! I've had this done for a while and have worn it a lot. It is definitely a new favorite. It's a bit difficult for me to go through the murk and mire of 1860's fashion that has more recently been going through my head, but I believe with this dress I wanted to go for a more early-to-mid 30's look with slightly longer, slimmer skirts, more flare at the hem and with a lot of emphasis on the shoulder/neckline area.

There were two dresses I based this one off of. One was a reprinted Past Patterns pattern for an earlier 1930's dress, and one was in an ad from a 1934 Sears Catalog. The pattern is very basic. The bodice is my base one that is slashed and spread at the chest level for some fullness to be gathered into a center front seam. The sleeves are circular two layer flutter sleeves with the upper sleeve being slightly smaller than the under sleeve. The skirt is made in six gores and is cut to be a little generous at the waist, fitting not too loose nor too tight over the hips and coming in again around knee level to create a little shaping before finally flaring out into a trumpet like shape at the hem, which ends a bit above the ankle.

The fabric is a lovely 100% cotton voile I got from Jo Anns last year. It was on clearance in the home dec department. The red floral print is HUGE so I wasn't sure how well it would look as a garment. But I was pleasantly suprised it worked quite well for a dress. I just had to be careful where I placed the big floral motifs so I would not end up looking lopsided when I wore the dress! I squeezed this dress out of 3 yards of fabric with almost a half yard left to spare. I love dresses that take such little bits of fabric. :) The fabric is very sheer so I had to make a slip to wear under it - which you have already seen in my post quite a few post backs about the ultra-modern 1930's bias cup slip. :P

I have more 30's dresses planned! I even bought fabric a few weeks ago for another summer style one; a pretty blue-green cotton printed with pink flowers. I hope I get a chance to make it while it is still warm enough to wear it! I just need to get through reenacting season with my interest in the 30's intact. Reenacting sewing has a way of draining my mind of everything but the 1860's. ;) This week it's mens clothes. . .and finishing my new quilt, if I get the time!

Love,
Sarah

21 comments:

  1. Love it! You should make a few 30's dresses with long sleeves for the fall. :D

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  2. This is a lovely dress, Sarah! I think I prefer these older styles, too. Every time I look through a pattern catalog, I cringe. I guess it's good that I don't wear dresses very often.

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  3. I LOVE that dress! It's so beautiful! That's it, I need more vintage style dresses....

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  4. How I wish I lived near you so that I could come over and just *watch* how you sew...! I feel like I would learn so much just by osmosis, LOL! :) The dress is just stunning... and your hair is fabulous!!

    Much love,
    Luci

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  5. You look beautiful! I love the length of the skirt on you.

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  6. What a great dress! You did a wonderful job of fussy cutting it so that the flowers landed just right. Wanda in Edmonton

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  7. I love it! The fabric is just perfect! :o) Now you just need a touch of babies breath in your hair ;o)

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  8. Just gorgeous! You look beautiful.

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  9. I love it! I would so love to have a pattern for it. I don't know if we are similar size but I think we may be similarly built, and this dress might work for me. I have bought so many patterns trying to find something to suit me.

    You look lovely!

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  10. Tabita, I too have had a hard time finding styles to suit my figure, which tends to be top-heavy, or sausage-like since my bust/hip measures 10 inches more than my waist. I'm trying to loose weight but I think it is coming off pretty evenly all over, so it really doesn't help my overall shape. :P

    I really like this style because it gives the illusion of slimness and length, and since the focus is on the shoulder/neck area, it takes away from the visual heaviness of the bosom. Anyway, I made up my own pattern for the dress but it is based on 1930's styles. If you like I can make a sketch of what each pattern shape looks like, if that could help you create this style for yourself! It's SO basic! The sewing is easy, I think the trick is proportion and fit. Fitting things looser through the chest actually helps me look smaller there, and having things looser through the hip/thigh also helps - but not too big, or else I'd look poofy. :P I love love love 30's styles. They are definitely one of my favorites now! They just work really well for me.

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  11. Sarah, could you make a sketch for me of the pattern pieces that you used to make your 1930s dress? I have a friend who is somewhat top-heavy & she wants to wear dresses, but the dresses she has never fit properly. Perhaps if I could make her a dress from the 1930s, it might suit her proportions.

    By the way, you look simply lovely in all of your 1930s dresses. It seems to be the style that suits you.

    God bless,
    Sarah Grace

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  12. Another beautiful beautiful dress! And I love the print of the material you used :-)

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  13. I'll work on getting that sketch done up today. Do you have an email address I could send it to, or would you rather me post it here on the blog?

    Jackie, I definitely plan on some fall 30s dresses. I really want to make a skirt/jacket/blouse suit combo. We'll see!

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  14. If it's not too much trouble, perhaps you could post the sketches on your blog, so that anyone who might wish to use it could.

    God bless,
    Sarah Grace

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  15. Hello Sarah:

    Another lovely dress!

    Could you give me a suggestion? I will be visiting a living historical re-enactment in later Sept. I would like to make a mid to later 1800's period correct 'lightweight' jacket (I live in Florida). I would prefer it to be a shorter length. What would you suggest? Thanks.

    Lisa

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  16. That's a very, very pretty dress, and I feel quite humbled by the fact that you just took some shapes and merged them into it... that's something I'm trying, but apparently am not so good at. Yet, hopefully. I'll keep you as an inspiration in the meantime!

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  17. Sarah, this is so lovely! I like the double layer of the sleeves :-) How exactly did you do your hair? I love that style and would really like to be able to reproduce it!

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  18. Sarah Grace, I'll try to get that sketch up soon! I have been busy this week since we started homeschooling but hopefully by the weekend I'll have it ready to scan and post.

    Lisa, it really depends on what year you want to portray. I don't know much about post-1865 fashions, but one of my favorite lightweight pieces for cool weather is the wool mantle I made last year. If you look under September 2009 posts, you should be able to see the one I made. It is in three pieces - two fronts, one back - and is unlined. I turned the hem to the outside and covered it with a band of trim and sewed it down by hand. The front closes with several hooks and eyes. It is just perfect for cool weather! On the Sewing Academy we are currently dicussing "working class coats" in the outwear section. The most recent coat discussed in that thread looks great for what you might need - a shorter coat that looks simple to make up and wear. I plan to make one like that before our next reenactment at the end of September.

    Gillian, this is my current "Civil War" hairdo, but I use it everyday because I'm growing my hair out and this works well for hair that is not short enough to look cute, but not long enough to look pretty. :P It is basically a 2-strand French Braid. I start at about eyebrow level and just twist the strands over each other, adding more hair in all along the perimter of the head til I get to the center back. Then I do the same to the other side. I tuck up the leftover ends into each other and bobby pin into place. If you have longer hair, you can make a braided bun or just tie it into a ponytail. A lady at a reenactment I went to in May showed me how to do this style and now I use it all the time. :)

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  19. Sarah Grace, I'll try to get that sketch up soon! I have been busy this week since we started homeschooling but hopefully by the weekend I'll have it ready to scan and post.

    Lisa, it really depends on what year you want to portray. I don't know much about post-1865 fashions, but one of my favorite lightweight pieces for cool weather is the wool mantle I made last year. If you look under September 2009 posts, you should be able to see the one I made. It is in three pieces - two fronts, one back - and is unlined. I turned the hem to the outside and covered it with a band of trim and sewed it down by hand. The front closes with several hooks and eyes. It is just perfect for cool weather! On the Sewing Academy we are currently dicussing "working class coats" in the outwear section. The most recent coat discussed in that thread looks great for what you might need - a shorter coat that looks simple to make up and wear. I plan to make one like that before our next reenactment at the end of September.

    Gillian, this is my current "Civil War" hairdo, but I use it everyday because I'm growing my hair out and this works well for hair that is not short enough to look cute, but not long enough to look pretty. :P It is basically a 2-strand French Braid. I start at about eyebrow level and just twist the strands over each other, adding more hair in all along the perimter of the head til I get to the center back. Then I do the same to the other side. I tuck up the leftover ends into each other and bobby pin into place. If you have longer hair, you can make a braided bun or just tie it into a ponytail. A lady at a reenactment I went to in May showed me how to do this style and now I use it all the time. :)

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  20. Sarah,
    Beautiful red and cream dress.
    The print is so very pretty and looks wonderful on you.

    Have a sweet life and God bless,
    d

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  21. It's beautiful, and I don't think the print is too large at all! Lovely job, as usual!

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!