• 1940s Winter Wool Dress •

 

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a terrible tendency to make nothing but cotton dresses year round. Lightweight, pastel, summery cotton dresses. And that just isn't always practical when it's freeeezing cold outside! Thankfully, I managed to be in the mood for sewing a couple of warmer garments in the last few weeks. It was actually quite fun!!

I purchased this wool, 3 yards in total, last summer at our local fabric shop on clearance. I can't say that I actually loved it, because I didn't, but I really didn't care. Pendleton wool, 60" wide, on sale, USA made.
Irresistible, right?

I tucked it away in the "winter" section of the stash, figuring that I would make a jacket out of it eventually. Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago, I pulled it out to see what, if anything, I felt like making it into. We recently bought the new Vogue pattern 9052, which only calls for 2 7/8 yards for the dress. Heehee. Perfect, right? Except, who wants short sleeves on a winter wool dress? Not I. An eighth of a yard is not enough to get longer sleeves, but I decided to just start cutting out skirt pieces anyway in hopes that I could squeeze longer sleeves in later.

Thankfully, I was able to get three skirt pieces cut out of the width of the fabric, so that left me with plenty of leftover fabric to make my desired sleeves. I used the pattern's sleeve cap, but made the rest of the sleeve from Simplicity 1777. Now I have elbow darts. Happiness. :)

For being my first plaid-matching project ever, I'm definitely happy with how it came out! The fabric was really nice to work with, unlike the flannel on my pleated skirt.

I am glad to say that our lovely fur piece goes with the dress nicely! :)

Since the neckline of the dress pattern was quite low, I decided to do away with the front slit and replace it with a back keyhole opening. It worked out great, and I really like the slight V-neck effect that the final dress has. I used a plain cotton for the facings and topstitched to keep everything in place. I just love that little candy red button!

After I had the dress assembled, I tried it on and was shocked after looking at it. P-l-a-i-n. SO plain. Terribly, shockingly plain. The depths of despair were nearby, but I warded them off and started thinking about what I could do to make it interesting.
What would redeem it? Buttons? Pockets? Sashes?

I finally decided on pockets, and they ended up being just the thing. It's really nice to have them on a dress at long last! I used to be adamantly against them, but I'm starting to discover their uses. :)

It was so cold out that we decided to try an indoor photo shoot for once. But when you combine bad lighting and a bright red dress with a horrible photo editor (me), the photos end up being a little...interesting in color. I think I need to study up on Photoshop. A lot. Or become realllly good friends with a photographer. Hmmm.
All that aside, I am very happy with my dress! Now I will not be cold!!

• Photography by my mom •