S&S 1914 Afternoon Dress

Ahh, the completion one feels when cutting the threads from sewing a hem, or knotting the ends from sewing on a button! Just a little over seven years ago I made one almost identical to the one I just finished yesterday, and for some reason this dress seemed to take a lot longer to sew than the other one.

As before, I used Jennie Chancey's excellent pattern, but made a few changes. For one, the shoulders were brought in a little to prevent the dress from feeling like it was going to come off. I also squared the neckline in the front. The sleeves I shortened some and pinch the top a little while cutting the fabric, as I was looking for something a little bit more fitted than before.

I put in some buttons from my stash, and found a larger button that matched the smaller ones for the waistband closure (which isn't shown) in the back. Unfortunately I didn't have enough lace for inserting it into the back bodices, but it can stand on it's own. Most people don't (or shouldn't!) stare at one's backside!

The sash was simply made from a 1/2 yard of some left over poly crepe satin of my sister's, and I sewed up the raw edges, turned in right side out, bunch it up, and wa-la! For the back, I just tied it and tucked in the ends. World's simplest sash right there.

I may make up another one when I can afford 1/2 yard of silk duiponi. I loved that purple I had before, but the blue will do especially since I haven't the occasion to wear it yet!

The fabric I used came from an estate sale that I was working at quite awhile ago. I don't remember if the house owners gave me the few pieces of yardage for free or if I paid a dollar or two for it, but either way, making this dress cost me pretty much only in time. Because of the white seersucker yardage lengths, the hem of the dress is just a wee-bit shorter than I prefer. A historical dress must have pintucks of some kind in my book, so I did two 1/8" pintucks and turned up a 1/4" hem.

Thankfully, because hemlines were no longer down to the floor and were creeping up to ankle length, I think this dress can wear the title of a 1914 dress.

I'm loving my Gibson shoes from the American Duchess!  More on these later... :)

Next project: a 1940s Swing Dress.