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I have pictures of the 1940's cotton dress I made a few months ago.
The pattern is a reprint of a Simplicity pattern sold by Bright Young Things on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/listing/897439570/1940s-40s-reproduction-vintage-sewing. I scaled it down from a 38" bust to a 36" bust by the expedient of printing it out at 95% scaling, which of course scaled the length as well as the width. I know that's not how you grade patterns, but for only one size difference on a short-waisted person, it usually works. When I mocked it up, I took something out of the length on the waist because I often have to do that, even with scaling like this, but I had to put it back in for the final dress. Modern Simplicity patterns - well at least patterns from 10-20 years ago - tend to have a good waist length for me, and it looks like that's probably true for the vintage versions too. The front ended up a trifle short, but it's not bad. The back is just about right.
I used a cotton print that is a little lighter weight than a quilting cotton. It hangs well, and the shoulder filler pieces do a good job of keeping the sleeves puffed. I chose not to use the sleeve bands on the sleeves because I thought they would be harder to iron. And I'm not that keen on puffed sleeves. I would recommend using a fabric where the wrong side is nearly the same color as the right side because it's going to show on the sash ends. Mine was a tan cotton printed with rust so the wrong side is definitely different from the right side. I have to be careful with the ties. The other change I made was to use a twill tape to face the bias edge at the neckline. I've had too much trouble in my life with bias necklines stretching to be confident in a bias facing. I had to move the snap at the crossover point down an inch or so, but that was trivial.
It's a cute dress, and I'm happy with it.
The pattern is a reprint of a Simplicity pattern sold by Bright Young Things on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/listing/897439570/1940s-40s-reproduction-vintage-sewing. I scaled it down from a 38" bust to a 36" bust by the expedient of printing it out at 95% scaling, which of course scaled the length as well as the width. I know that's not how you grade patterns, but for only one size difference on a short-waisted person, it usually works. When I mocked it up, I took something out of the length on the waist because I often have to do that, even with scaling like this, but I had to put it back in for the final dress. Modern Simplicity patterns - well at least patterns from 10-20 years ago - tend to have a good waist length for me, and it looks like that's probably true for the vintage versions too. The front ended up a trifle short, but it's not bad. The back is just about right.
I used a cotton print that is a little lighter weight than a quilting cotton. It hangs well, and the shoulder filler pieces do a good job of keeping the sleeves puffed. I chose not to use the sleeve bands on the sleeves because I thought they would be harder to iron. And I'm not that keen on puffed sleeves. I would recommend using a fabric where the wrong side is nearly the same color as the right side because it's going to show on the sash ends. Mine was a tan cotton printed with rust so the wrong side is definitely different from the right side. I have to be careful with the ties. The other change I made was to use a twill tape to face the bias edge at the neckline. I've had too much trouble in my life with bias necklines stretching to be confident in a bias facing. I had to move the snap at the crossover point down an inch or so, but that was trivial.
It's a cute dress, and I'm happy with it.
