2 Comments Can't Quite Contain My Excitement, or Floral Vintage

I am excited, as it follows from the title of this post, and I would much like to share with you why. After about three weeks of hectic [at times] reading books on modelling clothes, trying to model some basic forms and then designing a dress I only ever saw as an illustration on Pinterest (this one) from scratch and without any substantial guidance, I finished The dress!

Close up of the front tie detail

The overall silhouette and the front tie detail I took from the image, as you can see, but the required measurements and proportions between different parts of the pattern I had to estimate, and I did improvise with the back of the dress, since you can't quite see it from the picture. The fabrics was a birthday gift from a friend, and it is a Japanese cotton with grey background and vintage flowers.

The dress features a boat neckline in the front and a moderate V-neck in the back, which turned out looking very elegant. The top of the dress is made as a crude probability distribution curve (I do hold a BSc and an MBA, after all!), with darts being transferred into soft pleats around it. The back has two regular darts that match those of the skirt. The front ties are sewn into the side seams, and serve more as a decoration rather than have any practical purpose.

Mirror selfie in the new dress is a must!

The back of the skirt is a regular pencil shape with a tall kick split, while the front has darts gathered at the waist, making it puffy in the hip area. To be perfectly honest, I expected the skirt to be a little bit slimmer, although it does look good and vintage'y as it is. The dress fastens at the back with a 50cm/20inch concealed zip.

The overall look for the night

What I am most proud of in this dress though are sleeve gussets – an essential element of vintage dress-making, particularly in the 50s. A one-piece gusset like the one here is a diamond-shaped piece of fabric that goes into the opening under the arm and allows extra arm movement in more fitted kimono sleeves. Ah, so pretty!

Here I'm showing you how the dress looks as part of a whole, with recently made coat and evening hair and make-up. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised that the dress was so comfortable to wear – and gussets do indeed allow proper arm movement while maintaining close fit. Although I would probably let some time pass before I attempt to model another dress for myself, it was too exhausting and time consuming!

Well, I do hope you guys like it, too. It took some time and dedication to make it, but all the hassle was well worth the result :)

See you soon!

E.V.