Das Gänsblümchenkleid – The Daisy Dress

Wer sich in den Zwanziger Jahren für den androgynen, sachlichen Look nicht begeistern konnte, der hatte eine ebenfalls hochmodische Alternative – das Stilkleid, auch Robe de style genannt. Es ist vor allem mit dem Namen der Modedesignerin Jeanne Lanvin (natürlich aus Paris) verknüpft, die diese romantischeren, femininen Kleider mit schmaler Taille und weitem Rock entwarf. Der Stil lehnt sich deutlich an die Mode des 18. Jahrhunderts an. Zwar sitzt die Taille eher tief, der Rock konnte aber vorne und hinten abgeflacht sein, und manchmal wurde er sogar von Paniers gestützt, ganz wie 250 Jahre zuvor. Hier ein eher extremes Beispiel (aus dem “Fashion sourcebook 1920s” ed. Charlotte Fiell):

Und ein alltäglicheres, ohne Reifen (aus “How to make dresses the singer way”):

If, in the twenties, you weren’t so keen on the androgynous, factual look, you had a very fashionable alternative: the picture dress, or robe de style. It is, most of all, connected with the name of Jeanne Lanvin, who created these romantic, feminine dresses with slender waist and wide skirt. The style recalls the fashion of the 18th century. Although the waist is rather low, the skirt was sometimes flat in the front an back und might even have paniers, just like 250 years ago.

Für beide Varianten gilt allerdings leider, dass man unfassbar rank und schlank sein muss, damit sie getragen richtig gut aussehen. Vielleicht galt das Stilkleid auch darum vor allem als passend für junge Mädchen und Frauen, aber das Problem hat man natürlich generell mit Mode der Zwanziger Jahre.

Unfortunately for both types the rule applies, that you had to be extremely slender to make it look really well. Maybe that is one reason why the picture dress was regarded appropriate mainly for young women, but of course this is a general problem with fashion from the twenties.

Den Stoff für mein Kleid hatte ich schon vor Monaten als Rest gekauft: ganz leichte und weiche Baumwolle in Braun und Zartrosa. Da ich kein Panier basteln (oder tragen) wollte, musste die Fülle im Rock durch die Stoffmenge entstehen, und so ist das Kleid  sozusagen komplett doppelt – innen rosa, außen braun. Für die Stickerei habe ich auf einen schon erprobten und bewährten Stich zurückgegriffen. Sie hat genau die Farbe des Futters, auch wenn sie hier eher weiß aussieht.

I had bought the fabric for my dress months ago: very light and soft cotton in brown and rose. Since i didn’t want to make (or wear) paniers, the fullness of the skirt had to come out of the amount of fabric, so the whole dress is actually double – rose on the inside, brown on the outside. For the embroidery I used a proven and tested stitch. It has exactly the colour of the lining, although it looks more like white here.

Für das Oberteil habe ich den Schnitt meines Hochzeitskleides etwas abgewandelt, der Rock besteht einfach aus den gekräuselten Stoffbahnen. Mit soviel Stoff zu arbeiten fand ich sehr ungewohnt und gar nicht so einfach.

The pattern for the waist is taken mainly from my wedding dress, the skirt is just the gathered lengths of fabric. It felt unfamiliar to work with so much fabric, and wasn’t always easy.

Das Kleid ist eines der am saubersten verarbeiteten Kleidungsstücke, das ich bisher genäht habe, und darauf bin ich ein bisschen stolz, auch wenn es nicht sonderlich kompliziert in der Konstruktion ist. Und es trägt sich auch wirklich ganz wunderbar – ich hab schon lange keinen weiten Rock mehr getragen, und es ist natürlich herrlich! Ob ich mich so richtig schön darin finde, ist allerdings noch nicht entschieden. Mal sehen, vielleicht gewöhne ich mich ja noch dran.

This dress is one of the tidiest garments I have made so far, and I am a little proud about that, even if there wasn’t anything very complicated. And it is really nice to wear – I haven’t worn a wide skirt for a very long time, and of course that’s great! Still, if I am going to like myself in it I have not yet decided. Maybe I will get used to it, we’ll see.

 

The Challenge: Historicism – Make a historical garment that was itself inspired by the fashions of another historical period.

Material: pure cotton, several meters

Pattern: my own

Year: about 1924

Notions: thread, embroidery thread

How historically accurate is it? very

Hours to complete: I don’t know really. Two weeks now and then, maybe?

First worn: to a garden party (in September, what an indian summer this year!)

Das Hochzeitskleid

Leider musste ich die Juni-Aufgabe des Historical Sew Monthly überspringen – “Travel” hieß die, und ich hole sie jetzt gerade nach. Für den Juli stand aber eine andere auf dem Programm, und die passte wie die Faust aufs Auge: “Monochrome – make a garment in black, white, or any shade of grey in between.” Da ich vor zwei Wochen geheiratet habe, war klar, was das sein musste: mein Hochzeitskleid.

Unfortunately I had to skip the challenge for june of the Historical Sew Monthly – it’s called “travel”, and I am doing it now. But for july there was another one and it just couldn’t be better matched: “Monochrome – make a garment in black, white, or any shade of grey in between.” Since I got married two weeks ago it was obvious, what this was going to be: my wedding dress.

 

 

Als Vorlage diente dieses Schnittmuster:

Letzten Endes ist aber doch eher wenig vom Original übrig geblieben.

It is based on the above pattern, but in the end there was little left of the original.

Geändert habe ich zum Beispiel die Ärmel, die nicht geschlitzt sind und sich nach unten weiten. Die Taille saß dem Schnittmuster nach extrem tief, und es gab an den Seitennähten Raffungen für mehr Weite im Oberteil. Das war irgendwie sehr unvorteilhaft, und ich habe dafür Brustabnäher eingefügt, außerdem nach einigem Zögern Abnäher im Rückenteil, um die Taille etwas schmaler zu machen. Das habe ich bisher in keinem orginalen Schnittmuster gesehen, allerdings gibt es ja sehr wohl Abbildungen von figurnahen Kleidern, und irgendwo muss diese Form ja herkommen. Die Taille hat jetzt außerdem eine Neigung nach hinten unten, parallel zum Saum, der ebenfalls vorne etwas höher liegt als hinten.

I altered, for example, the sleeves, which now are not slit and widen towards the hem. The waist was extremely low, following the pattern, and the side seams were ruffled to provide more bust width. This was very unflattering, so I made bust darts instead, also – after some hesitation – darts in the back to narrow the waist. I haven’t seen them in any old patterns yet, but there are of course illustrations of figure hugging dresses from the midtwenties, and somehow you have to do it. Moreover the waist has a slant back- and downwards, like the hem, which is higher in front than in the back, too.

Verbunden mit diesem Kleid ist eins der besten Geschenke, das ich überhaupt je bekommen habe: Die Mutter einer Freundin ist Schneiderin und Modedesignerin, und zur Hochzeit bekam ich ein Coaching für das Nähen des Brautkleides geschenkt. Ich war also dreimal bei ihr und konnte mit ihr den Schnitt optimieren, Abnäher und Säume abstecken, und insgesamt jede Menge lernen. Zum Beispiel war ich unglücklich mit dem Rockteil – es hing vorne und hinten relativ glatt herunter und die ganze Weite sammelte sich an den Seitennähten. Das hing mit dem Fadenlauf zusammen, und letztendlich hab ich dann die vordere Mitte im Fadenlauf zugeschnitten, aber die hintere Mitte schräg dazu, so dass der Rock vorne eher glatt liegt, aber an den Seiten und hinten schöne und gleichmäßige Wellen schlägt.

Connected with this dress is one of the best gifts I ever received in my whole life: The mother of a friend is a seamstress and fashion designer, so I got a coaching for sewing the wedding dress. I visited her three times and could do pattern alterations and fittings with her, and just learn a lot. I was, for example, unhappy with the skirt – it was quite flat in the back and front, all the width gathering at the side seams, which obviously has to do with the grain.  The front of the skirt is now cut on the grain, the back on the bias, so it is rather flat in the front, and the sides and back do nice and even waves.

Die wunderbare Schneiderin kam dann auch zur Hochzeit und schenkte mir ein großes Stück altrosa Samt, den ich bei ihr bewundert hatte, und Glitzerzeug dazu. Das sieht mir sehr nach Material für ein Weihnachtskleid / die Dezember-Aufgabe aus.

The wonderful seamstress came to the wedding and gave me a piece of pale pink velvet, which I had admired at her place, and some glitz. Looks very much like a christmas dress / the december challenge.

Um noch etwas zum Material des Kleides zu sagen: Es ist aus Microsatin, was wahrscheinlich nicht hundertprozentig authentisch ist, wenn es auch in den Zwanzigern natürlich Kunstseide gab, und auch die Spitze und der Tüll für Schleier und Ärmel sind aus Polyester. Die Spitze sah eigentlich so aus:

Wie sich herausstellte, war sie viel zu breit und schwer, um sie einfach so an Ärmel und Schleier zu nähen, also habe ich die Motive ausgeschnitten und einzeln an die Ärmel und das Kleid genäht.

To say something about materials: The dress is of microsatin, which probably isn’t fully period accurate, although of course, there was rayon, and the lace and tull are polyester, too. The lace actually looked like in the picture above. I realized it was much too wide and heavy to just sew it to the sleeves and veil, so I cut out the motives and sewed them one by one to the sleeves and bodice. There wasn’t any time left to do the veil, so it just stayed as ist was.

Für den Schleier blieb dann allerdings keine Zeit mehr, so blieb er wie er war. Der Kopfschmuck ist übrigens eher nicht authentisch, die Blüten sind aus lackierten Draht, nicht aus Wachs. Aber er passte trotzdem sehr schön dazu, finde ich.

The headpiece by the way is not period correct, the blossoms are made of lacquered wire, not of wax. But it fitted in nicely nevertheless, I think.

The Challenge: Monochrome

Material: Microsatin, lace, tull

Pattern: this reproduction pattern with some alterations

Year: mid 1920s

Notions: thread

How historically accurate is it? Quite, except for the materials.

Hours to complete: many

First worn: at my wedding – a very very happy day!

 

HSM #2 – Tucks and Pleating: Hattie’s Dress

This month’s challenge is:

Tucks and pleating – make a garment that features tucks and pleating for the shape or decoration

And my inspiration was this picture from german Vogue, August 1929:

The caption reads: “Mrs. Allan A. Ryan, junior, chosen by Cecil Beaton as the embodiment of the beautiful blonde American.”

I used a viscose fabric I had had in stash for some months, which proved to be a good choice, with a crepe-like feel and very drapey, though capricious. Too impatient to deal with well-known basics like basting the edges, I was rewarded with a neckline that grew larger by the minute. I added vertical seams in the front and back (fortunately barely visible) but in the end couldn’t get around inserting a strip around the neckline. It turned out okay, although taking a closer look makes it obvious, that this was not planned originally. But Mrs. Ryan’s elegant sash wasn’t easy to add to this, so I decided to fake it altogether, using a vintage buckle for the faux bow.

By and large this blouse has a more casual and sporty feel than its model, and it reminded me of wonderful Hattie from “Sweet and lowdown”, so that’s where it got its name from. I like it.

Now I have always wanted to make a typical twenties’ two piece frock, with the skirt attached to a vest, and being thrifty with my fabric I just had enough left to give it a try. I made a simple slip like the one for the last challenge of 2015 and sewed the skirt to it:

 

(Again, the slip doesn’t go on my dress form, so it’s pinned to it – the straps are not double.)

Pleats on either side:

The whole dress:

And this is what I’d really like to know: How do you make a pleated skirt (an extremely popular design in the twenties) without loosing the slim shilhouette? Especially pleats that open up at the waistline like these. I made another skirt this month with one pleat in the centre front, from top to bottom, as seen in many fashion plates – apart from being very unflattering it gives the skirt an unmistakable A-line shilhouette. Looks rather 70s. Starting the pleat below the lower hipline, everything’s fine. I’m really at a loss, so if anybody out there has an idea how to handle this, I would be grateful for a hint!

 

The Challenge: tucks and pleating

Material: viskose for the dress, rayon for the slip

Pattern: my own

Year: about 1926

Notions: thread, an original buckle

How historically accurate is it? very, as far as I can say.

Hours to complete: about a week’s time snippets

First worn: last sunday to church and a family gathering

HSM #9 + 10: Colour Challenge Brown and Sewing Secrets – Autumn Wardobe

This month I made a decision. I’m not an accurate sewer. No matter how much I try to cut the pieces precisely, to do everything neatly, to think through in advance every step I take, finished garments often don’t turn out as I had planned or expected. There frequently are fitting issues or construction mistakes (like with the dress I’ll tell about here, where I basically made the same error twice), or the fabric doesn’t behave as I had thought it would. BUT: I am really good at going on nevertheless. I finish the garments and they are wearable and often nice or even beautiful. I can work around obstacles and develop a new design if the original one didn’t work. So I decided to change my focus – instead of again and again fretting over my insufficiencies I should enjoy what I do well and what I achieve with it. Yes.

Now for this month’s sewing: On a routine check of the fabric department at our local department store I came over a soft wool in a warm reddish brown with a white pattern, which called to be made into a dress. I bought it, although I had rather a blouse or skirt in mind for the Brown Challenge. As it turned out, the fabric wasn’t very enjoyable to handle – it’s very loosely woven, so it frayed like hell, bulged and lost shape very easily, and it is suprisingly itchy, inspite of draping so softly.

Still experimenting with the 1920s back line I thought I should try a pattern in one piece, without a waist seam.

This lady I found in one of my favourite sources for twenties’ wear, the Fashion Sourcebook 1920s (ed. C. Fiell). She’ll be my model for different design ideas, with more realistic measurements than the fashion drawings from the time:

I cut the dress in one piece, without shoulder seams, originally even including the side panels. Which is where the mentioned blundering started. Now they are set in, but I still forgot to see to an overlap, so I used a strip of broad ribbon on the inside to join the two parts.

Doing the embroidery was a real joy. I love the colour combination, although I’m afraid it makes the fabric of the dress look a little duller than it really is. I learned to do cross stitch as a girl (my grandmother, aunts and my mother all did und do embroidery), but since then have rarely stitched anything. The design I came up with is very simple, so it was manageable in the given time, and I wanted something suitable for everyday wear.

Since the wool is so unpleasant on the skin I fully lined the dress. I am not sure about how period correct this is, I imagine a slip would have been more appropriate, but still. And as I had several pieces of brown lining in my stash, but nothing big enough for the whole dress, I decided to piece it together – making my entry for the Sewing Secrets Challenge. It isn’t very fanciful, but I really was at loss to develop any idea for this challenge, so this is better than nothing.

I didn’t want to miss out on one of the twelve garments though, so I made a last minute skirt from the rest of the fabric. While I am not absolutely sure if I really like the dress (it looks and feels very twenties – well, like a sack), the skirt definitely will become a favourite.

The Challenge: Colour Challenge Brown and Sewing Secrets

Fabric: pure wool, acetate lining

Pattern: my own

Year: about 1924

Notions: yarn, embroidery thread, a zip for the skirt

How historically accurate is it? Very, except maybe for the lining of the dress

Time to complete: Daily bits of time over the whole month

First worn: not yet

HSM #8 – Heirlooms and Heritage: The Honeymoon Dress

I was really looking forward to this challenge, and I started early looking and asking for photographs of my family. I found pictures I would never have dreamt of – Edwardian ladies in white on South African patios, or my greatgrandmother in a beautiful Kimono at a fancy dress ball. Of course, with the pictures came the stories, too, which was great, but gave me a lot to think. Somehow looking so closely at the women on the photographs and their clothes brought them and their fates very close, too, and I realized once more, how much my family has been influenced and damaged by the Third Reich and Second World War – as probably any other german family is, of course. There was the genuine Nazi, the quite courageous intellectual and everything in between. There was flight, displacement and loss, and after the war: the disillusioned father turning to drink and violence, a daily nightmare for his family. The child dying, playing with an unexploded bomb, and how the whole village brought precious eggs and other fixings for butter cake for the funeral meal. By some, even in my parent’s generation, who were children or not yet born, when the war ended, the question of guilt is still not spoken of. But of course, all these experiences are still present in the family, one way or the other.

Back to dresses – I decided to sew something my mother’s mother owned. I am named after her, and I inherited her sewing machine, a Singer from the 1950s, which I dearly love. I feel close to her in doing needlework, as I have always seen her doing. And the dress I chose is one she wore on her honeymoon.

There is a little homemade album of this journey, taking place in 1930, to Korcula, a kroatian island.

My grandmother was eighteen when she married, much younger than my grandfather, the eloquent pastor adored by all the confirmands, and I wonder how she felt, all at once being a married woman, so much sudden intimacy, and if she had a foreboding that this marriage wouldn’t always be easy.

I think she looks rather sweet and very young on these pictures, but happy, too, and I do hope, she was.

The pictured clothes I find quite surprising. They are much plainer and less fussy than what I have seen in illustrations, even from mail order catalogues, which are supposed to mirror what people actually wore. And some of them I find almost daring, modern anyway, like this little suit:

As the wife of a pastor, I assume, her clothing had to be neat but modest, but maybe as a girl she dressed really smart? Here she is in bathing attire:

And this is the dress I wanted to make:

(I love her sensible footwear, by the way!)

I think she is wearing the dress on the picture with the archway, too, which gives a clue to how bright the different colour blocks were. Of course I didn’t find a fabric matching these blocks, so I had to colour it myself. After making a muslin to get the position of the blocks right, I took white cotton and started painting it in greens:

I taped the stripes to get the edges as clean as possible. Working with paint is quite a different thing and was new to me – you can mix it, but it wasn’t easy to find the right shades, and I needed several attempts for this:

This took some time, but apart from that the sewing was easy. I think the dress has a very basic pattern, without any darts or closures, so I made it up myself.

And this is what the finished dress looks like:

I already had suspected that it was a little shorter than the original, which proved to be true:

Also the skirt isn’t as wide as that of my grandmother’s dress, which is a pity. I think though, hers was of lighter fabric. Since I wanted a non-transparent material, mine is thicker, so accomodating more fabric in the waistline would have made it too bulky. All in all my dress does not match hers a hundred percent, but it gets pretty close. But anyway – I think it’s beautiful and very wearable. It suits me well, and I like to wear it in remembrance of her. What a rewarding challenge!

The Challenge: Heirlooms and Heritage

Fabric: white cotton

Pattern: my own

Year: 1930

Notions: thread, fabric paint

How historically accurate is it? The way of colouring the fabric propably isn’t. The rest of it is, so: 90%

Hours to complete: about three weeks

First worn: several times yet – I was on holidays in Italy and it was perfect for this (well, exept for the impracticality of white clothes when travelling with children)

HSM #6 – Out of your comfort zone: The Brimstone Butterfly Dress

Actually, I am sewing out of my comfort zone since I started to seriously try to grasp 1920s fashion and clothes making, which has been some months now. I’m still far from feeling at home with it. Nonetheless I had plans for something else: I wanted to work with buckram. I had one go at it years ago (unsuccessfully) and now thought of making a hat based on it. The problem is, that my list of needful projects is long (I really need to get rid of my last maternity clothes), actually including one or two hats, but rather of straw or felt, and anyway with a rounded crown, nothing with right angles and sharp edges. The list does not include that buckram based handbag either, which I halfheartedly began to sew and dumped after having messed it all up.

Then I had absolutely no further ideas, and June was already half over. I didn’t want to miss the challenge though, even if it was just for my own record, so I decided to cheat a little und do something that at least would be out of my comfort zone to wear: something yellow.

It doesn’t show very well in the pictures, but the dress is of brimstone butterfly cotton – and it’s my first yellow item of clothing ever. It’s based on the One Hour Dress from the mid Twenties and was quickly assembled, although of course I needed two hours alone for fiddling with a self made bias binding for the neck, before taking it off again and using ready made binding.

I’m still not fully comfortable with the width at the back (well, it looks a little better on the dress form than on me), but I guess that’s basically what Twenties’ dresses are about and I’ll get used to it. On the whole I like it though. It feels a bit like being clad in lemon ice cream wearing it, but it is a nice light and sporty dress, reminding me of summery afternoons and tennis on the lawn.

The Challenge: Out of your comfort zone

Fabric: yellow cotton, about 2 meters

Pattern: the one hour dress, like here

Year: 1924

Notions: thread, white cotton bias binding

How historically accurate is it? Very, I’d say: 95%, leaving 5% for anything inaccurate that I just don’t know of.

Hours to complete: about one week of snippets of time

First worn: last weekend on a party at the baltic sea

HSM #5 – Practicality: The Homemaker Dress

My first plan for this month’s challenge was to make a Hooverette, the house dress so typical for the Thirties. But somehow I just didn’t get really exited at the thought – too feminine and frilly for me at the moment (although there already have been two very nice examples at the Historical Sew Fortnightly, by Jen and Leimomi). On the other hand I was quite jealous of the dress Erin did sew for the Blue challenge. So I settled on a Twenties’ house dress: a simple cut without much trim, made of sturdy cotton, and checked, as many house dresses in the Twenties were made of Gingham.

Since I am still trying to understand how Twenties’ dresses work and fit, my plan was to buy an original pattern and sew it just following the instructions. I took the Morning Frock from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library, a reproduction pattern dated 1920, although it must be from the mid twenties originally. What I didn’t think of was, that going for my present (post-pregnancy) bust size the dress would be too big in every other respect. So I ended up altering it after my own mental image of how it should fit anyway. I still think it very wide in the back, although I shaped the blouse a little bit there.

The collar took me some time. First I made it in a light blue fabric, which made the whole dress look even more nurse-like und rather boring. The white fabric I finally used is part of an old bedsheet, so it’s pure cotton, too, and you don’t have to worry about hot ironing. Then I made several attempts to get the collar on symmetrically – not successfully. The ties are merciful though, they mostly cover this, although they strongly remind me of girls scouts’ neckties. And I am happy I bothered with making bound slashes.

All in all I like the dress, but the missing waist feels really strange, and although it’s marvelously comfortable I am not sure, if it will become a favourite. We’ll see.

The Challenge: Practicality

Fabric: Checked Cotton, remnants of a cotton bedsheet, remnants of something dark blue, feels like cotton, too.

Pattern: Vintage Pattern Lending Library, Z5302

Year: about 1924

Notions: thread

How historically accurate is it? Very, I think. I only took the back in a little, that might not be absolutely authentic.

Hours to complete: I just can’t keep track of the hours – my sewing time comes mostly in half hour snippets. However, I started on May 1 and did the last stitches today.

First worn: not yet

HSM #3 – Stashbusting: Stepping Out Dress

I very seldom buy fabric I don’t need for a current sewing project, but of course I assembled some of these projects in different stages of completion, and I just can’t cast away anything textile, so my stash consists mostly of leftovers. There is also the scrap basket, which is overflowing (although my daughter, who is free to use it  for her freestyle sewing and fancy dress things, helps to reduce this). All this compiling feels really nerdy, but it actually pays off, for quite often I can use remnants of clothes I made to match them with other garments or accessories – very thirties.

My plan for the stashbusting challenge was to eventually sew a 1930s pyjama I bought fabric for shortly before I got pregnant. But then there was an invitation to a party and the glamour girl in me gained the upper hand, so I ended up with this: The fabric is a very light polyester satin, using the shiny as well as the dull side. I had made a dress for another festivity from this, a pretty uninspired maternity gown: I never really warmed to it and it was clear I would not wear it again. It had quite a lot of fabric in the front panel, plus there were ca. 1,5 m left in my stash, so I deconstructed the dress and made new use of it.

I used the basic skirt and tunic patterns I already had adjusted for the last HSM challenge, so this again is a two piece dress meaning to be a one piece. For the top I omitted the sleeves, made a deep v-shaped neckline with a vestee-like insertion and added the sash, hold with a buckle on the left side. The skirt has a godet on the left, which shows the dull side of the fabric, to give it some flare. The whole thing was done quick and dirty. The cheap fabric didn’t behave as I wanted it to, and there are many spots I wouldn’t recommend a close look on. I have mixed feelings too, when it comes to authenticity. It has a 1920ish feel, and apart from the clearly modern fabric, all the details and features are period accurate, but I’m not sure they would go together in one garment. The plain tubular shape, the vestee neckline and the even hemline would indicate a dress from the first half of the decade. But evening dresses would have ankle length until the mid twenties, while sleeveless daywear wasn’t common until after that. The shiny fabric seems strange too for a day dress, but apparently that was not uncommon.

Anyway, all this is just book knowledge. It seems I haven’t seen enough of twenties fashion yet to get a feel for what would work and what wouldn’t be right. So I’m not awfully proud of this, still it was finished within a week (which is fast for me), and it was fun to wear!

The Challenge:  Stashbusting

Fabric:  Polyester satin, not sure how much of it

Pattern:  Basic skirt and tunic patterns, adapted

Year:  about 1924?

Notions:  Thread, hook and eye, snaps, vintage buckle and, uhm, a safety pin

How historically accurate is it? I’ll give it 50%

Hours to complete:  About ten hours

First worn:  Last weekend to a very nice party

Total cost:  None, everything was from stash

HSM #2 – Colour Challenge Blue : Sunday Best

For the February Challenge I made a two piece frock from the 1920s.

I am pleased with how it turned out, although it wasn’t all fun to get there. The fabric I used is a rayon crepe. These did exist in the twenties, although I’m not sure about the single components – this one is a little stretchy, which I don’t think would be historically accurate. It adds a lot to comfort though, and wool or silk crepe would have been too expensive anyway.

I started with the skirt, which was quickly sewn. It is based on my basic skirt pattern, with added pleats, looks elegant and is really nice to wear. The trouble was with the blouse … It’s not a secret, that twenties fashions are designed for and look best on a boyish figure – which is exactly what after my recent pregnancy I have not. I realized this, when I made the first fitting. I tried the blouse (with a much higher and plain neckline) on, expecting simple yet sophisticated art deco elegance, looked into the mirror – and felt like an elephant. Lowering the neckline, adding the buckle and bow (the opening pleats echoing those in the skirt) and narrowing the whole thing made it much better, but I had a couple of dark hours until I figured that out.

Constructionwise this is a fake because it is not a fake. Ensembles like this, which were very popular in the twenties, usually consisted of a blouse like mine, but the skirt would not sit on the waist, but be attached to a bodice, as shown in this illustration of “How to make dresses the  modern Singer way” from 1929:

This would be quite easy to sew, I think (no fitting at all at the waist), and wonderfully comfortable to wear. But since I needed a garment with separate upper and lower parts, I made it a real skirt.

The Challenge: Colour Challenge Blue

Fabric: 2,5 metres of blue and a small piece of cream rayon crepe

Pattern: based on a basic skirt pattern and  KwikSew 3601, both modified Year: mid twenties

Notions: thread, zipper, buckle

How historically accurate is it? The overall look is really good, I think. The pattern of the blouse is fine, too, with underarm darts and otherwise not much to it. But the skirt, as I mentioned, isn’t at all accurate, of the fabric I’m not too sure. The buckle is vintage, but more like 30s. So, hm, about 70 %?

Hours to complete: about three weeks, for more or less half an hour every day

First worn: at the christening of our little boy

Total cost: ca. 50 €