• 1940s Christmas Plaid Dress •

And now for Christmas Dress #2!!! :)

Maeberry Vintage was having a sale several weeks ago, and when I saw this adorable dress, I just couldn't resist it. 1940s. Right size. Right length (!!!!). And the only issue was a couple of teeny stains on the third scallop from the top. Thankfully, they washed out so well that they are hard to even locate. The fun part is, the brand name is Fruit of the Loom! I have a feeling they don't make dresses like this anymore. 

I was definitely born in the wrong era.

The design of the dress is fairly simple, but SO cute!! I love the little bias-bound scallops, and the black buttons are the perfect touch.

The neckline is quite fun too!

I was able to let the hem down around an inch, which made it the perfect length. (And I sewed on rayon seam binding....I LOVE that stuff!!)

The waist length of the bodice is a tad short, but I borrowed the green belt from my Kerrybrooke 1950s dress to hide that fact. :)

And in case you were wondering, yes, it is made of diagonal plaid fabric! My mom is planning to make a dress just like this out of some diagonal plaid fabric that she bought, so we were very curious to see if this dress was bias or straight-grain.

I wasn't intending to make yet another Christmas dress, but it sort of happened anyway! :) I pulled out the leftover plaid fabric from my Pleated 1900s Skirt and managed to squeeze a dress out of it! So now I'm all set in the Christmas dress department. No shortage of things to wear this season!! ;)

The side opening on this dress is absolutely ingenious. The buttons on the front are just decorative; they don't unbutton, so there has to be a way to get in the dress, right? Well, I naturally assumed that the dress had a zipper, but I was definitely mistaken! Instead it has one of the niftiest side openings I've ever seen!

The dress has a pocket on the right side, so when you look at the left side, you think that it just has a buttoned pocket. Wrong! It's actually a gusset-like opening that unbuttons and gives you enough room to take the dress on and off.

This has got to be the niftiest thing I've ever seen! I can't wait to try it on one of my dresses!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

My First Vintage Piece • Kerrybrooke 1950s Dress

*EDIT: This dress is now for sale in my Etsy shop.  See the listing here.*

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I'm very excited about today's post! This is my one and only (so far, at least) vintage garment!

It is a Kerrybrooke dress by Sears Roebuck & Co. from the 1950s; I'm not sure of the exact date of manufacture.

Just as a side note, Sears has come a long ways since those days, don't you think?

Juniors' fashions now versus during the 1940s.

'Nuff said.

Back to my dress, however, I bought it a couple of months ago from A Doe A Deer; she was having an Instasale, and as soon as I saw this dress, I couldn't resist it. It was actually long enough, a super cute style, and the price? Amazing! $20 shipped. You just about can't beat that.

I was very excited to receive it! I washed it up, hung it out to dry, and then tried it on.

Hmm.

One little-bitty measurement I forgot to ask about was the back-waist length; it was only about 3 inches short. After discovering that fact, I was sure I couldn't wear it; there wasn't enough of a waist-skirt seam to let out. I was disappointed of course, but still glad to at least own a "real" 1950s dress.

Fast-forward to last week, when I decided to try on the dress again just for fun. Suddenly I had the thought of making a wide waistband/belt that would cover up the too-short bodice. I went to the fabric store, found some matching fabric, and made one! 

It ended up being the most wonderful idea! You can't even tell that the waist is too short, and I rather like the green accent at the waist. I am so thankful that I actually get to wear my "real" 1950s dress! :)

The details are just lovely; the pintucks in the front, the buttons, and look at the sleeves! I can't wait to use that sort of cuff on one of my dresses!

I don't know what kind of fabric the dress is made of, but thankfully it does wash and iron up perfectly. It also doesn't wrinkle! Bonus!!

The dress was originally slightly short for me, but it had about a 2" hem, which allowed me to bring it down to the perfect length.

We were at the antique shop last week, and lo and behold, there was a card of these exact same buttons for sale. Yes! We bought them!! Now I can add an extra button at the top of the bodice (it's pinned in these pictures), and have extras in case I lose one.

That was such an amazing find. Thank you, Lord!!

I'm very happy with my dress, and excited to be able to wear it! It's not often that I even see a vintage dress in an antique store around here, so when you add the length factor, and the fact that I really don't like to spend a lot of money on one thing, it's hard to find a dress that works for me!

If you haven't stopped by my Etsy shop lately, do check out this skirt I just listed last week! It's the most lovely 1930s/40s/early 50s design, plus I will hem it to your desired length for no extra charge! The fabric is a lovely non-wrinkle polyester, so you really can't go wrong with it! ;)

Check it out here.

• 1950s Polka Dot Dress •

Ever since I first saw Lily's polka dot dress, I knew I had to have one. Originally I was going to make this into a nautical themed dress, but I kind of wanted to be able to wear it with any color, not just red. I got the fabric and buttons (big ones..hehehe) at Joann, and I love it. I never even ironed it after I finished it, nor have I since then. It has a little tiny bit of stretch to it, which makes it even more comfortable. 

I used Vogue V9000, but I left off the cuffs, and narrowed the skirt down. I got 5 3/4 yards of fabric, which is a good yard more than it calls for, but since I am 6' tall, I have to lengthen everything. Normally that's not a huge problem, but with a six-gore skirt, it was. The pattern layout had you laying the skirt pieces side-to-side, using up the whole width of the fabric. Therefore, when you have to add 3 5/8" to the length of each piece, you're in trouble. I folded the pieces over until they fit on the fabric, cut them out, and hoped for the best. I couldn't be more happy with the results - it hangs beautifully!

I also made the shoulders two sizes bigger than the rest of the bodice. (I know...weird, right?) It doesn't look bigger, but it makes it comfortable for the shoulder area. This was also my first lapped zipper ever. I was scared to death, but it came out wonderful!! Now I'm armed and ready for all the side zippers in other vintage patterns!

It was a little bit windy out....

There just *happened* to be an air show in town Saturday, so I had the perfect opportunity to take pictures of my new dress! It gets pretty boring taking them in the back yard. There were all kinds of planes there; World War II planes, modern planes, and even a 1929 biplane! It was so much fun!

We had random strangers walking up to us and asking if they could take our pictures, and wondering if we had something to do with the air show. Usually we just get blank stares from most people, so it was nice to have a positive reaction for once! :-)

I got my Malco Modes 591 petticoat last week. It took some adjusting to get used to wearing such a full skirt, but now that I'm used to it, it feels fine. Since it is made of a fairly crisp material, it had quite a few wrinkles in it from being shipped, so I put it in a sink full of warm water with a tiny bit of fabric softener, then hung it out in the sun to dry. It came out perfect, and I love it!

I also got new shoes (and sunglasses) from Modcloth. I couldn't be happier with them. It's always risky ordering shoes online, but they fit perfectly, and are so cute!

Next up is my regency spencer jacket, and then a Butterick 5920 dress out of a 1950s reproduction print.

Shoes, sunglasses, Modcloth.

Petticoat, Resashay.

Photography by my mom.

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