A Cotton Formal for Clara: Vintage Simplicity 1848

One last dress for the "go-abroady trunk" as Clara packs up for college. She bought herself some very nice cotton sateen and even more very nice dotted Swiss, and picked out this vintage pattern.


I'm not going to lie--I felt somewhat daunted. I'd never used boning before, the pattern was too small, and what is going on with those pleats over the bust anyway? We made a toile of the bodice--it hardly needed any modification--and forged ahead.

I took my time and hand-basted the pleats down (when do I ever do that?) and it all came out surprisingly well. Very surprising, in fact, when I read that I would be threading my shoulder straps through slots in the front trim I had no idea I had constructed, but indeed had made successfully. Whew!



I did put the boning in on the wrong side of the lining, darn it. So I made yet another iteration of the bodice and snuck it in as an interlining. So yes, it's fully lined (twice) instead of being faced as the pattern directs.


We used the Swiss dot wrong side out in the bodice (just a suggestion of dots) and then textured side out in the skirt. The underskirt is sateen, all seventeen miles of it.

I made my first *real* waist stay with its own closure, and my first hanging loops so that dress can be comfy in the closet. Good thing I had a deadline, or I never would have finished all those details, I'm telling you.


But just look . . . .