While I’ve been busy finalizing college details for my kids, I’ve been sewing 1950’s style for our upcoming Becoming History presentations.
PATTERN
After searching through lots of vintage patterns on-line from the 1950’s, I decided to use Butterick’s 5603 pattern which is a remake of one from their collection in 1956.
FABRIC
Loving all the fun colors of 1950s dresses, I settled on a spring sorbet of offerings, which included gingham!
MACHINE SEWING A PEACH 1956 DRESS
First, I machine sewed View A from a synthetic peach silk…
…which I totally fell in love with!
Since it beckoned me every time I walked by, I had to try it on.
MACHINE SEWING A PINK GINGHAM 1956 DRESS
Since my daughter claimed the peach dress, that left the pink gingham for me, which I expect will also be cute.
For this version of the 1956 style I recreated View B, for my synthetic pink gingham silk fabric.
1958 HOUSEBOAT WITH CARY GRANT
Originally I purchased this pink gingham because it reminded me of a party dress worn in the 1958 movie Houseboat starring Cary Grant.
After he’s widowed, Grant takes his sister-in-law, Caroline, to the dance, where she wears a pink and white silk gingham dress quite similar to the one that I sewed!
VINTAGE HANDKERCHIEFS
For fun, here are the vintage handkerchiefs I picked up in an antique store in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania last summer.
PETTICOAT
To sew the petticoats, I used directions from the 1950s that Alice Lon’s mother used to make for her that she showcased in her showbusiness career.
Growing up in Texas, she danced for the infamous Rangerettes while attending Kilgore College.
As a young girl I remember watching the Rangerettes during halftime of the college football games on Saturday afternoon.
When I grew up I wanted to either be a Rangerette, or part of the University of Texas Longhorn Pep Squad.
After college, she became one of the Champagne Ladies on the Lawrence Welk Show.
Iconic to the show were Lon’s massively poufy and colorful petticoats that her mother sewed for her, so her mom sent the instructions to TV Guide, linked above.
Running out of time to sew another petticoat, my daughter wore this one while I simply raided my half slip stash to achieve some poof!
MODELING SPRING SORBET DRESSES
Here are a few sneak peaks from our recent 1950s Becoming History presentation.
For more photos, check my Flickr set.
COMMENTS FROM MY OLD BLOG
Time Traveling in Costume – August 18, 2014 at 12:11 PM -My friend just bought this pattern and I’ll have to share the link to your blog with her. She loves the ’50s. I however prefer to dress in things from years before I was born. Your twinsie photo is just adorable.
Val
