Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Vintage Afternoon Dress: "The News" 2442

A graceful afternoon dress from 1948:


I love the square neck and cut-in-one sleeves, as well as the pintucks to gather up the shoulder fullness. The pattern cover looks like a darted bodice to me, but the (unprinted) pattern pieces showed a "soft plait". I went ahead and darted the bodice to bring in some of the blousiness of the front.


A most challenging pattern because the instructions said "Create shaped facings and attach." !!! It worked eventually, but boy, did they expect you to know your p's and q's back then!

Retro-style printed cotton with great atomic bursts in red:

16 comments:

Tracy said...

Anna,

I have a great amount of difficulty sewing for myself. I have considered a dress form. Do you find that to be helpful during the sewing process?

I've seen instructions to make one from duct tape. It looks quite functional. Have you heard of this?
Thanks for your time,
Tracy

Anna said...

Tracy, the dress form you see before you is a duct tape lady! I made one and put it over a regular dress form. I could NEVER sew well-fitted clothes for myself without Lucille. If you want to make clothes that fit you must have one.

Kimberly Lottman said...

Anna,
At what age did you learn to sew, and who taught you, mom, grandmother, home ec.

My home ec. teacher was, well let's say, not exactly the most patient person. I excelled at every other skill she taught me, cooking, money management, but I struggled with sewing and she had not time for strugglers.

I've often thought of trying again, but I'm afraid that experience at such an impressionable age has left me weary for want.

You are a beautiful seamstress.

Kim

theups said...

I think all the dresses you sew are always so lovely. I am just learning to sew and hope to be able to create beautiful clothes like yours.

His,
Mrs. U

Anonymous said...

Love it, love it, love it. So crisp and cool looking.

Janel said...

Oh I really like that! Nice shape.

Me said...

Love the patterns and fabric! What a great outfit!

Mrs. H said...

Anna,

I love the clothes you make! I only hope someday I'll learn to sew. I would love to know of someone I could commission to make a great vintage dress for me ;)

BTW, I made your Schoolhouse Gingerbread last week. It was a big hit here! Tonight I hope to make your Chocolate Ice Cream to serve with strawberries I bought yesterday.

Olivia

Amy said...

I love this. It is beautiful!

Melissa said...

Lovely!

Where do you find your vintage patterns?

AmeliaB said...

How pretty Anna! You are so talented. :-)

~Amelia

Trina said...

Anna, where do you buy your fabric? I admire your sense of taste and style in each of the dresses you create.

Lisa said...

Very pretty, Anna. I like the square neckline with the square patterned fabric.

Anonymous said...

I hope this question isn't being too nosy. I'm curious to know... have you always worn dresses, and if so, have you always dressed in the vintage styles? If not, how did the transition happen? I ask because I LOVE the style of dresses you've shown on your blog, and I've always wanted to dress vintage, but because I don't NOW, it makes me nervous. If I just switched "cold turkey", everyone will think I've gone a little crazy! So... yeah. Just curious.

Unknown said...

Hi there Anna!

I love the fabric in this post. Do you have any idea of it's origin? I'd love to find out who designed it so I can make a reproduction of it (I'm a graphic designer getting into textile design).

Great dress!

Thanks!

Bobbi

Anna said...

Bobbi, I bought it off the shelf at Hancock's years ago--sorry I don't have any more info than that. It reminds me of Michael Miller though, that would be my best guess.

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