The 7-month 40's dress

Some dresses just don't want to be made.  This is one of them.  I started this project back in February because I wanted a "quick and easy" vintage project to do as a break from more elaborate historical stuff.  It started out well enough, and I was thrilled to finally be able to use some vintage sheer dotted swiss fabric that I had been hoarding for years along with a cute DuBarry pattern dating from 1940.  But then disaster struck when it was time to add the sleeves - I had accidentally cut out 2 left sleeves and I didn't have enough fabric to cut another one.  ARGH!!!

Okay, I admit it.  I totally overreacted.  I had a big "woe is me" meltdown and then proceeded to angst over what to do with those the stupid sleeves for the next 5 months.  I intended to wear this dress to 3 different events this past year, but each time I would pull it out of the naughty pile to finish it, I would get all worked up over the sleeves again and then put it back away.

But finally last month some sanity came back to me and I thought to myself: "what would a woman in 1940 do if she had cut the pattern wrong?"  Well, duh - she would have pieced together scraps of fabric to fix the sleeve and moved on!  So that's what I did.  Can you see my horrible mistake?  My tragically ruined sleeves?  Neither can I.  Lesson #1 learned from this project:  CHILL OUT!  A little bit of piecing never hurt anything, and it probably looks more authentic now because of it.

Lesson #2 was something that I should know my now, but apparently I don't.  If you don't make a mockup, at least be sure of your size.  I almost never make mockups with vintage patterns, and I thought this pattern was close to my size, but it really wasn't.  It was massively huge on me, so basically I made the dress, took the entire thing apart, re-cut the pattern, and then made it all over again.  It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I had been hand-finishing all of the seams as I sewed, and it almost killed me to have to unpick all of that beautiful finishing work.  *sigh*  But it finally fits right and I think I have a better grasp of what size I really am now.  

So 7 months later, and my "easy" vintage project is finally done!  I finished off the outfit by wearing a little tilt hat that I bought in a local antique store, a $10 corde purse from Etsy, a vintage navy slip, some vintage seamed stockings, and some Madden Girl brand shoes that I found on the clearance racks at DSW last year.  The shoes originally had a very modern flowered fabric on them, but they were such a great shape, so I painted them blue with acrylic paint to match my outfit.

WWII era fashions have never been my favorites, and I was a little worried that this outfit would feel too "prissy" with the little neck bow and the poofy sleeves.  But I really loved wearing this dress and I'm itching to make more things from this period now.  If you are interested, you can see a few more photos on my flickr.