Friday, November 23, 2012

1950's-Style Thanksgiving Dress

Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers! I hope you all had a blessed day reflecting on the good things you have been blessed with. We had a fabulous time with our guests, ate too much pie and played cards. David smoked a pork loin on the grill and I brined and roasted a turkey. They came out great and I think we'll be eating leftovers for a week!
It is true, the majority of the pictures David unwilling took of the dress were candid ones, alas. Forgiveness.

I finished my dress the night before Thanksgiving, putting in the zipper. Did I say I detest putting in zippers? This one was no different. It was one of those "invisible" zippers but it didn't come out all that invisible as my zipper foot does not snug up to the unrolled edge of the zipper close enough to warrant it being invisible once it is zipped. I had to insert the thing literally five times before it was done. It still isn't perfect but oh well. It is what it is.

I really like how the sleeves came out. The one thing I am not pleased with is the neckline. I cut this dress using the pattern I draped for my era-less dress from last year, only raising the neckline a tad. It still seems like it is way too low. I know it's not the dresses fault. It is the fault of currently nursing my baby. I think I'll be much happier with the fit of the neckline of this particular dress once the baby is weaned!

The only other mishap with the dress was the putting on of the waistband. The waistband is cut slightly curved, with the top of the waistband being slightly longer than the bottom edge. I put it on upside down. So the underbust area of the waistband is a bit too tight and the waist edge is a bit too big. This has the unflattering effect of making my stomach look like it is protruding from the underbust. I cannot fix this unless I take the waistband off and turn it around and put it on the right way but right now that seems like more work than it is worth. Maybe I will make a girdle. That might help.

I like the pouf the petticoat gives to the skirt. For a one-layer cotton petticoat it really does give a LOT of body and pouf!

It was a fun dress to wear yesterday although I did not wear the red shoes very long. The boys kept asking me where I was going since I never wear shoes unless I am leaving the house!

But it was NOT a fun dress to eat Thanksgiving dinner in. Note for next year: Wear a loose fitting sweatsuit. That way I can eat more.

Love,
Sarah

10 comments:

  1. For the neckline you could always borrow idea from the past and add a neckerchief?
    When the fashion a while ago was all low necklines I bought silk and chiffon scarves to fill in necklines with.

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  2. My theory on zippers is that functional is usually good enough. I detest taking out zippers and putting them back in.

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  3. Lovely job, as always, Sarah! You inspire me :-)

    As for invisible zippers, I had no luck with them until I bought an invisible zipper foot -- it's a color plastic thing-a-ma-bob that costs a few dollars in the zipper or notions section in the fabric store. It makes putting invisible zippers in as painless as possible. In fact, I only use invisible now!

    Your Thanksgiving comestibles sound delicious -- I'm looking forward to a few turkey & cranberry sauce sandwiches, myself!

    Blessings,
    Shannon

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  4. That's too cute :) It reminds me of a Sound of Music dress.

    I second the vote for an invisible zipper foot. Once I got one, I haven't ever gone back to "regular" zippers. You can find the coats&clark generic one like Shannon mentioned, or most companies sell them pretty inexpensive for your specific brand (which fits better)

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  5. Lady D! That is a brilliant idea. Thank you! Actually I may just simplify that idea and get a thrift store button-up blouse to cut down into a dickey to wear under the dress. I would be FAR more comfortable wearing it with something like that!

    Shannon, I will definitely look into that zipper foot attachment. Anything to make sewing in zippers easier!

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  6. I always hand sew my zippers....and can never get them to look 'invisible'. I've started making them a design feature now by having contrasting colour zippers.

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  7. Sara Jane,
    I also brine and baked my turkey for Thanksgiving. And I have to say, it does come out delicious. As for zippers, well, I have the toughest time when sewing them to any garment that requires a zipper. What I do to make it simpler is begin sewing the zipper from the bottom to the top, this way I can avoid the creation of ripples on the zipper once it has been put in place. As for invisible zipper, Lady D's hand sewn idea is the best. That is the same technique I use. One more thing, you look lovely in you dress. Like always.

    ~Jacqueline

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  8. I basically only ever do lapped zippers now. The result is so much better than the way I learned to do it from commercial patterns! Gertie has a tutorial here that I follow: http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/05/how-and-why-to-do-vintage-style-lapped.html

    I also recently tried replacing the extra facing strip of fabric twith 1 inch twill tape and that was very tidy as well. Very little bulk that way.

    Also I think you look very graceful in your dress!! I should come up with a new dress for Christmas maybe.. hmmm...

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  9. I basically only ever do lapped zippers now. The result is so much better than the way I learned to do it from commercial patterns! Gertie has a tutorial here that I follow: http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/05/how-and-why-to-do-vintage-style-lapped.html

    I also recently tried replacing the extra facing strip of fabric twith 1 inch twill tape and that was very tidy as well. Very little bulk that way.

    Also I think you look very graceful in your dress!! I should come up with a new dress for Christmas maybe.. hmmm...

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your lovely thoughts!