• The Polka Dot Project •

After many months of silence on this blog, it feels great to be back writing again!  Sick days are good for at least one thing, that being blog-writing.  :) 

This post is about a project that had been in the works for a couple of years; my friend Sarah purchased a 10-yard length of this polka dot fabric, and upon finding it to be great fabric, my mom decided to purchase a length as well.  We developed a plan that "someday," we would all make outfits from the fabric, each being from a different decade.  It took us a few years, but we finally made those plans come to fruition.

Here's a few group photos, with the specific outfit details later on in the post.

Sarah and her mama are just the cutest ladies in the world.  And I'm not biased at all.  ;) 

Mom and I in our frocks.

1950s, 1940s, 1930s and 1920s, all in a row!

There was a good quantity of silliness involved in our photo shoot, which just made it that much more fun.  ;) 

Now onto the outfit details!  First off is Sarah's dress:

Sarah made her dress using Simplicity 1250, a 1950s reproduction pattern.  She altered it slightly to have a back zipper as well as functioning buttons in the front, making it nursing-friendly.  She also drafted the neckband to echo the sleeve details, which adds to the vintage beauty of it.

While it might seem like a simple thing to add the neckband, if you look closely at the overlap, she had to make the angles of the neckband match up precisely at the overlap, which is obviously not right at the center.  Bravo, Sarah!!!  She is a wonder!  Check out her Etsy shop for some of her fabulous work!

The back of the dress is equally gorgeous, with that flattering peplum.  And can I just mention her gorgeous hair?!!?!?  Not jealous at all!!

Next up is my mom's dress:

She made her frock from an original 1930s Excella dress pattern.  The pattern was too big to start with, so she had to work with it to make it smaller while still keeping all the unique and fabulous details.

The dramatic collar on this dress is one of my favorite details!!  Another fabulous point is the sleeves, which have unique seaming that goes up to the elbow, with slightly pointed and gathered cuffs.  So, so gorgeous.

A tie belt makes the perfect accent for this beautiful frock.  She paired the dress with her original 1920s oxfords (found at a local antique shop for $20, in perfect, like-new condition, and they are COMFY.).

"Ma's" outfit is up next!

Sarah made Ma's outfit using Simplicity 8462 for the bolero, and Simplicity 3688 for the skirt.  The scalloped lapels on that bolero are *so* gorgeous!  She paired it with a gorgeous peacock brooch and vintage necklace from her collection. 

Separates like this are so nice to have, as they can be worn in so many different ways! 

Lastly is my little frock:

For my birthday this year, my mom got me several gorgeous patterns from Lady Marlowe Patterns on Etsy.  This is the second pattern I have made so far, and I have been thrilled with both garments!  This dress was actually extremely easy to make, even with all the multi-directional pleats, and it went together in a very short period of time.

I was planning to do white accents for the neckband/tie and cuffs, but then I saw some scraps of this red, white and blue polka dot, (leftover from my peppermint dot dress), and that settled it.  Gotta have that little pop of pizzazz, especially in a 1920s dress!!

I paired my new, FAVORITE Royal Vintage Claire oxfords with my dress.  They are so comfortable and versatile, I could not be happier with them!

One last outfit I cannot leave out was Sarah's daughter's outfit.  I didn't get a real clear picture of it, but this was the finished product right before our photo shoot.  I used a "vintage" pattern from the '70s, I believe it was, but it is a very versatile style that could have been used in the '40s-'50s, in my opinion.  It was an easy make, and fit her well at the time.  :) 

Just, ya know, flappin'....or perhaps I should say swingin', for the latter eras!  :)

Need I say it?  THE END.

I will be posting more frequently (at least for a little bit), as I have several more posts to share!  I have been sewing like crazy, but the photos of said outfits happen very rarely.  I'll try to remedy that problem though!

Thanks for reading!