Inspired by my lovely array of 1950s patterns which seem so much more fashionable than contemporary party clothes, I determined to sew a vintage dress for myself for the annual Christmas party.
PATTERN
Settling on a Vintage Vogue pattern from 1957, I perused the fabric selection for something fun.
FABRIC
Tucked behind plain red satin, I noticed tucked behind it a changeable red/black silk taffeta called Iridescent Red Tango.
PRACTICING COUTURE TECHNIQUES
As I sewed my dress, I referenced Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire Shaeffer since it uses techniques I’ve learned in my 18th century sewing.
While edges of seams were often overcast by hand in couture houses, the author admitted that in these days of modern machinery, couture houses often save time (for a cheaper price) by overcasting them by machine.
Well, I always do that anyway, so that’s easy and quick!
Since I had difficulty keeping the points of the gore, I sewed those sections by hand, which is how a couture house would have done it.
Couture houses do more hand sewing than machine sewing so they have more control for fine detail, which works better for me too!
Another couture technique is to hand pick a zipper, which I’ve been doing since college years, so that was easy.
Finally, I hemmed miles of my skirt all day long by hand with a blind hem stitch.
CHRISTMAS PARTY
The dress drew positive attention at the Christmas party, where one of the ladies asked me tons of questions about the style, my sewing, and the rest of my historical sewing.
The Country Club was certainly a lovely setting to showcase this fun dress!
For more photos, check my Flickr set.
COMMENTS FROM MY OLD BLOG
Black Tulip – December 21, 2015 at 3:29 PM – This is gorgeous, the perfect Christmas frock. Yay for hand-sewing as well – it’s always fun to add that ‘couture’ feel to a project.
Stephanie Ann – December 21, 2015 at 4:35 PM – Love it! I’m going to have to look for that book. I have that pattern in my stash somewhere and now am inspired.
The Quintessential Clothes Pen – January 3, 2016 at 2:00 PM – What a lovely color for you. You really pop in the dress! 🙂 It looks great!
Best,
Quinn
