Green wool dress, 40s style

It's ready! Yay! =) This dress took a while to make, partly due to the time of year when I started the project (from now on I should stick to TNT jerseys during February), and partly due to the shifty nature of the fabric. It's 100% wool, with a beautiful drape and a loose weave that makes it easy to press and easy to hide stitches in, but in my mind I named this make "The maybe I'll just baste it first-dress" =) All details have been basted, and though it may seem timeconsuming, the alternative (pin, sew, unpick, pin, baste, sew) would have taken longer...

The dress is made using a pattern I drafted from my blockpattern. This is my third make of this pattern, and each time I alter something. Close up of the altered details:

Shortened neckline to prevent gaping.

Upper front body is underlined in a fitted, thin muslin, hopefully controlling the ease from the pleats to lay still =)

Gathers altered to pleats, at bodice to yoke (front and back), bodice to midriff piece and end of sleeves to cuffs.

Shirtsleeve-placket instead of a bias-bound one. (As usual all the buttonholes are handworked).

Handpicked, lapped side zipper.

Inside of hem



Hem from the right side

Hem reinforced with fusible interfacing, hemline basted, steamed and pressed as shown here. Handstitched.

Regarding what era to pin it to, I'm just not sure... At first I thought of the late 40s, with the pleats and the half-circle skirt, but the sleeves are a bit wrong for that, aren't they? The 70s spring to mind, and it sure does have a lot in common with that decade. The only details landing it in an earlier decade is the length of the skirt and the sidezipper. Maybe late 30s/early 40s? Just at the start of WWII there was a period when skirts were getting wider and more circular again (soon made slimmer due to fabric rationing), and the puffy sleeves of the 30s were still seen. Maybe it would would fit that time period better? Anyway, it's somewhere in the general 40s style =)

Hmm, maybe I can have fun with that... A hairdo, seamed stockings, fancy shoes, and it's obviously a dressy 40s look. Ponytail, cotton/wool thights, winter boots, and it's a more casual 70s look.

So happy to finally have completed and photographed this dress! Sorry about the photo's though, some a bit murky and I'm not sure what's going on with the colour. The colour in the view of the back and in the hemline-pics is the most accurate =)

Love, Erika