1940 Wool Plaid Dress
Jan. 11th, 2019 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
atherleisureI finished a plaid wool dress on New Year's Eve, making it my last finished thing for 2018. It's another Vintage Vogue pattern, this time a reprint from 1940 V8811. It's made of a light-weight wool twill with the bodice lined in cotton batiste and facings in a slightly heavier cotton that was close in color to the wool.
It turned out to be less interesting than I expected. I thought the plaid would make up for the very plain cut, but it doesn't. It needs the belt and a necklace or something. I wore it with a jacket yesterday, and it looked good that way.
It also turned out to be shorter in the waist than usual. Other than this dress, it has been like clockwork that I take 3/4" out of the bodice length for all Vogue patterns. This one ended up about half an inch too short in the waist, at least in front, so the waist seam wants to pull above the belt. It's not by much, but it would be nice if it hit right in the middle of the belt, especially since I carry a pager at work, and that pulls the belt down a bit. I might add thread loops to help keep it in place.
I realized that I need a full length mirror again because I thought I got the length right, but I hemmed it an inch or two too short. It doesn't look quite right for the 1940's, but since I made it for everyday wear in the 2010's, that's not a big deal.
I have fairly square shoulders so I skipped the shoulder pads, and I put in a zipper instead of snaps. I did hand-sew the zipper, which made life easy.
As a bonus, it only took two yards of fabric. I ordered three based on the yardage requirements on the pattern, and I received four since it was a bolt end. So I still have two yards of a lovely smooth wool to do something with.
It turned out to be less interesting than I expected. I thought the plaid would make up for the very plain cut, but it doesn't. It needs the belt and a necklace or something. I wore it with a jacket yesterday, and it looked good that way.
It also turned out to be shorter in the waist than usual. Other than this dress, it has been like clockwork that I take 3/4" out of the bodice length for all Vogue patterns. This one ended up about half an inch too short in the waist, at least in front, so the waist seam wants to pull above the belt. It's not by much, but it would be nice if it hit right in the middle of the belt, especially since I carry a pager at work, and that pulls the belt down a bit. I might add thread loops to help keep it in place.
I realized that I need a full length mirror again because I thought I got the length right, but I hemmed it an inch or two too short. It doesn't look quite right for the 1940's, but since I made it for everyday wear in the 2010's, that's not a big deal.
I have fairly square shoulders so I skipped the shoulder pads, and I put in a zipper instead of snaps. I did hand-sew the zipper, which made life easy.
As a bonus, it only took two yards of fabric. I ordered three based on the yardage requirements on the pattern, and I received four since it was a bolt end. So I still have two yards of a lovely smooth wool to do something with.
