Simplicity 9969...

Even though it is getting chilly here in Australia I still have summer dresses to show you.

This is a "costume" pattern from Simplicity (I recently won on Ebay), a reproduction of the style of dresses the "torch" singers wore while singing to the troops in WWII.

 

The pattern was not cheap, at $24.00, but I love the style, the drape front, the frills, and the sweetheart neckline.  I made view A.

 

Sorry about the lousy backdrop, it was too dark outside (early a.m.) to take a photo.

The fabric was bought from a lady who is selling lots of vintage fabric from a recently deceased "hoarder" of fabric...the husband didn't know what to do with all the fabric, so she is selling it and giving the money to their church.  I often wonder what my family would do with my stash ?!?!?

Anyway...the dress was easy to sew, and my only adjustment was to add about 1.5 cm to the waist only, thanks to my modern, and not 1950s, figure!  I am going to make the longer sleeve version next - I really need some cool weather dresses...

The dress is incredibly flattering, with its slight a-line skirt, and I felt very nice going to "town" (Melbourne) in my most recent best dress.  A woman with a retro dress store asked if I would make some for her shop...if only I could make it more low-cut at the neck, and a much tighter skirt :-) 

I love it just the way it is!

Simplicity meets Shibori.

In the last couple of days I Shibori dyed some off-white silk to make the blouse (view A) in Simplicity's 3688, 1940s retro.

I cut out and over-locked all of the pattern pieces in preparation for dyeing. I then used different resists on each section of the garment.

Both sleeves (wrong sides together) were secured around glass marbles with rubber bands. The yoke was stitched with a simple floral motif in three places. Both backs (again, wrong sides together) were stitched with a spiral running stitch at the shoulder, and with rows of horizontal running stitch along the lower back. The lower front was stitched in the same way as the lower backs. Upon completion of the running stitch the are all gathered as tightly as possible (without breaking them). The fabric bunches up a lot like smocking.

I then dyed the pieces together in a bath of equal parts magenta and turquoise acid dye for an hour...with stunning results.



As I said in my last post, I am obsessed with dyeing...and am dyeing everything in sight :-)