1940s Dress • Violet and Chocolate

Today I'm sharing my mom's gorgeous dress that she wore to our friend's wedding last week!

We had both originally planned on making 1930s dresses, but with the time squeeze we had, and the seeming difficulty of the patterns, we decided to change plans and come up with something different!

She decided to use this gorgeous purple fabric, called "Violet and Chocolate," incidentally, to make Butterick 5281. Since she only had 3 1/3 yards of it, it was a trick to fit all the pieces on, but in the end she was able to get the whole dress out of it. The fabric is so soft and drapey, it looks beautiful in this pattern!

I love the details of this pattern, not the least of which is the beautiful drape of the bodice. It's so elegant!

Incidentally, I love this belt buckle! :) It's made of gray shell, but matches the purple *perfectly*. It was still on the card when we bought it, which adds to the neatness factor! ;)

These buttons. Don't they look just like candy?! I just love them! She bought them not knowing what they would match, but to our great surprise and excitement, they matched this fabric beautifully. And they're just the right size to be the perfect accent. I just love it when that happens!

This little brooch was an inexpensive find at an antique shop, but so worth it! It looks like something Queen Elizabeth would wear! :)

Our (of course planned color-coordinating) outfits did in fact end up coordinating quite well, I'm happy to say! :)

All in all, I just love this dress! It's perfect for all seasons, depending on how she accessorizes it, and it looks just gorgeous on her. :)

Meanwhile, I might just be sharing our latest antique finds this week! We had a scrumptious time antiquing this past weekend, and found some amazing stuff. Buckles, buttons, patterns, magazines....just so many goodies! Eeek!! :)

And I'll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag; we're working on colonial outfits! It's about time, right?! We randomly decided that it would be fun to wear them for Thanksgiving, so that's what we're shooting for. We'll see how it goes, and hopefully have an update post or two! :)

Flowers in the Snow • 1940s Dress

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

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About a week ago we had a day of blissfully warm weather (46°), which made for a perfect opportunity to photograph a very springy dress! It was awfully bright for my sensitive Norwegian eyeballs though, so I had to opt for the sunglasses look.

I made this dress shortly after finishing my black one because I loved the simplicity of the pattern. It's one of those patterns that seems complex at first, but when you make it you discover how easy it is!

I got this fabric several years ago at Hancock Fabrics, and shortly afterward decided that I did not like it. So, I traded with my mom for her share of some pink plaid that we had gotten together.

A few weeks back, however, it happened. I fell in love with the yellow fabric again! Thankfully, my mom was sweet enough to trade it back to me. I am so glad! It's just such a pretty, springy fabric.

It was one of those days in which I did. not. feel like messing around with fancy hairdos for hours, so I opted for a snood. I actually like them quite well, I just forget to wear them! They're bad-hair-day-friendly too, which is a huge bonus. 

I love the subtle details of the dress! The pleats add just the right touch. 

These big candy buttons are my absolute favorites. I never knew what they would ever be good for, so I was excited to find that they matched this fabric!

As with my black dress, I raised the neckline 1 1/2", and instead of having a button/snap closure, I prickstitched the bodice to the yoke 3/4 of the way across. That way I still can get it on and off easily, but I don't have to deal with the bulkiness and annoyance of snaps or buttonholes.

I lined the bodice with batiste, as per my sheer hatred towards lining fabric. I did not line the skirt.

Since buckles are so seemingly sparse, we developed a neat (or wacky, however you look at it) way of using buckles for multiple different dresses. Instead of sewing the belt to the buckle, we just thread the pointed end of the belt through the buckle, sew a hook to that end, and then a corresponding eye to the correct spot on the other end of the belt. It seems to work quite nicely! I already share this buckle with my green shirtdress.

Unfortunately, my favorite shoes are wearing out awfully fast. I just got them this past summer, and already I have had to replace the rubber part of the heels because one spontaneously fell off. Now they are just showing tons of scuff marks everywhere. It's so sad! I'm going to have to look for some new (quality) shoes.

• Photography by my mom •

No, I didn't throw it at her.

:)

• Little Black 1940s Dress •

This post marks a momentous occasion - I am finally several projects ahead of my blog! Although we haven't gotten pictures of them yet, it's a tremendous relief to have something already made to blog about rather than counting on my current project being finished in time.

I can't believe I am writing a post about my very own black dress! I bought this fabric early last year but never ended up actually making it into anything. I decided later on that Butterick 5281 would be just right, but still never was in the mood to "tackle" it. A couple of weeks ago, however, I finally was in the right mood! I was always somewhat frightened of this pattern for some reason, thinking that it simply must be terribly difficult. It isn't! In fact, (confession time), I already have another dress made from it that just needs to be hemmed. Long story short; it's a fun (and easy) pattern!

It probably does look slightly weird to have short-sleeved dress pictures out in the snow, but, well, sometimes you just have to have a picture! It was actually around 30 degrees, so it wasn't nearly as bad as the past week has been. The snow transforms the back yard into a more palatable backdrop than usual and it even snowed a teeny bit while we were out there!

Ordinarily I try to avoid that awful, slippery lining fabric like the plague, but for this dress it wasn't possible. Since the dress fabric is polyester, I knew that if I used cotton to line it, it would be too hot. Thankfully, the lining was not too painful to work with, and it really does feel so nice and slippery!

The main dress fabric was SO much fun to work with. It drapes beautifully, irons and sews easily and doesn't wrinkle. Three cheers for polyester!

I have been a bit lazy in the pin-curling department, but doing it again rejuvenated my love for it. Even though they're not perfect, there's just nothing like pin curls! I am happy to say that in only 11 1/2 hours or so, even though I have relatively thick hair, the curls are completely dry! That is a tremendous relief! 

I love all of the subtle but elegant details of this dress. The pleats on the shoulder, the decorative skirt seaming - it all adds up to a classic 1940s look.

I love my buttons. So much. Shiny pieces of happiness.

 I raised the neckline 1 1/2 inches, topstitched the part of the bodice that connects to the yoke, then stitched the bodice to the yoke about 2/3 of the way across, leaving enough of an opening to be able to slip over my head. Nicely enough, I didn't even have to sew on a hook and eye!

It is wonderful to finally have a black dress. While I am definitely a flowery-dress-kind-of-girl, a black dress is so versatile, and pretty much perfect for any occasion! I'm so glad I finally took the plunge and made it!

I'll leave you with a photo I took of the splendid drifts in our yard. It was SO. COLD. the day that I took snow photos, but once again, sometimes you just have to have them! I posted more pictures from that day on my photography blog.

• Photography by my mom •