Oh Happy Sewing Day a 1950's Dress

I have to admit it is a relief and refreshing to get back to making my favorite era of dresses the 1950's! After making the same dress over and over again I'm thrilled to being doing something different.

I got so much done today. All this includes cutting! All I need to do for this dress is French seam the chiffon and attach it the skirt and bodice. Add a zipper and hem. I'm thinking the petticoat is going to take me longer than the dress!

I modified a vintage pattern McCall's 5817 to start the recreation. I had to modify the back to create the V Back. The cummerbund on the pattern is not attached to the dress. I modified it to fit the dress properly and added the seam to match the inspiration photo. Here is the color palette & photo of pattern. The olive greens are for the petticoat. The fabrics are chiffon, organza, lining and Duchess satin. The dress itself is champagne with an off white chiffon overlay. I'm going to try my sister's trick with the petticoat. Stayed tuned for that.

For those that missed the dress I'm recreating you can click here.

I tend to cut big and fit to my form. I'm not sure if it is the proper way or not but I've done pretty well doing it this way. I literally put the dress on the form to shape my pieces. Then cut one as a pattern for the rest. I really would love to take a class on proper techniques though honestly I probably would still do it my own way. Here is pinning it to fit.

Darn I should of taken pictures prior to cutting the back & adding the rouched waistline. Now that I have an idea of how much I either needed to cut or take in I can sew it up. I cut quite a bit off the back not including the V section. Here it is attached to the lining.

Now I'm pretty sure the girl I'm making this for follows my blog so there is only so much I can post so I don't spoil the final results which I prefer to be in person. So for her and your viewing pleasure here is the lining (inside) of the dress! Love how full it is even without the petticoat!