An actual finished project!

Here is an actual finished project for you to marvel at ;P. I actually finished this some months ago, but decided to share it with you anyway..

This is also a Past Patterns pattern, #8340, entitled "Ladies' House Dress: Circa 1921." I really do like Past Patterns, and I think it's mostly due to their enormous collection. This pattern came with nearly no instructions..it was a single sheet that, at some point, was torn in half, so that I only received half of the directions. This was noted in the catalog on the Past Patterns website, as it is for a lot of her Vintage Revival patterns. I have many more patterns that I plan to pick up from her in the near future.

This one was a bit difficult, partially due to it being my first pattern of this era, I'd only sewn Civil War garments up till this point, partially because the instructions were half gone..and also because I made a terrible fabric choice. I chose a very lightweight, gauzy cotton, which was a real pain to work with. I'm ambitious, what can I say?





 The bodice is made up of 3 pieces: the back, and two front pieces that attach to the back at the side seams. I ran a gathering stitch along the bottom of all three pieces.  I laid the bodice out on the form, lining up the shoulder seams and neck opening (also making sure to lay the left side down first, as this dress closes on the right). I pinned down the back of the bodice to the form, and then pinned the side seams to the side of the form to hold it in place. I also pinned it down at the shoulders and around the neck to insure that it didn’t move around. I then pulled the gathers on each piece of the bodice individually to fit the waist of the form (which is always set to my measurements). I then promptly went to the sewing machine and sewed down the gathers so that I don’t have to worry about them loosening or tightening on their own. The next step will be to attach the skirt, which is also three pieces. I sadly did not get any photos of this stage of the process, but it went about the same as the bodice. I, of course, attached the three pieces to each other, and then lined up, pinned, and attached the skirt to the bodice. 

 
Here are a few photos of the finished project on my dress form. You can see that I opted for a white white eyelet fabric, which is also a gauzy cotton, for the collar, belt, and cuffs. I also used a set of pearl snaps for the closure. Were I to make this dress again, I would most likely go with buttons, as these snaps are really heavy for this light of fabric. The flower decoration I made myself from ribbon, using directions from a .pdf pattern I downloaded from eVINTAGE Patterns. I believe it was this pattern.

 

I should note that the waist for the pattern was originally 26 inches, so I had to alter it up to 34 inches. This was my first experience with significantly altering a pattern.

And here is a photo of me wearing the dress (I forgot the flower decoration). We took this while on a day trip to Birmingham to see the Vulcan statue.