Friday, January 31, 2014

January’s dress–Simplicity 8829 (1970)

S8829

Not the pantdress though. I thought a sleeveless dress might be the ticket for a Queensland summer.

My favourite decade will always be the 1930s but every so often I see something more modern and like it. Around 1970 seems to be a good year for me. I started the dress in December but Christmas got in the way. I started thinking about Christmas cake recipes, and did some wonky topstitching while attaching the skirt to the bodice. I decided this didn’t matter because I had a good opportunity to use a crochet lace pattern I found at the Antique Pattern Library (Pattern #108, Adeline Cordet, Book No.2, 1912). I only had white crochet thread on hand, but I did have some old indigo powder in the drawer. And some yeast, and sugar. Apparently that’s about all you need to set up an indigo fermentation vat.

I achieved what may be the dullest blue in the history of indigo dye baths, but it looks okay. Certainly better than white.

MyS8829WebMS8829Web2

A close up of the crochet lace:

lace

Changes I made to the pattern:

  • replaced the pointy under-bust darts with pleats
  • moved the zip from the back to the side
  • lined the dress rather than using facings

Next time I make this, I’ll add buttons and loops to the opening at the front of the bodice. This time around, I’m just using a brooch.

3 comments:

  1. Your dress is lovely and you look so ladylike (that's a good thing IMO) with the hat. That pattern takes me way back to my youth!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a beautiful dress and lush colours :)x

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love, love the techniques and well made dresses of the 1930 dresses. I'm still kicking myself for not keeping one of my mothers dresses that I threw out years ago. Side zip. 6 gore bottomith cross over front with buttons on left bust, longish short sleeves with turned up edging

    ReplyDelete