Falling Apart at the Seams

 

I was in Iowa City last week and decided to visit a consignment store called the Second Act. I don't frequent consignment stores very often as they are a bit too pricey for my tastes (really cheap) but I do like this one as it has a nice vintage section. My main reason for going was simply to look around, but I stumbled upon this 1940's dress. It was $12, which is generally much more than I like to spend, but still much less than all of the other vintage clothing. The price tag perplexed me as it seemed to be in very good condition. Then I looked a little closer and noticed that the stitching had fallen out at some of the seams and the hem was being held in place by safety pins.

Despite the gaping areas in the seams (which would be very easy to fix!) I loved the various elements of the dress, so I decided to buy it.

It is very '40s! The dress is made of black wool and has gathers at the shoulder yoke and pleats at the hips. It zips at the side and has buttons at the bodice. The buttonholes are tiny bound buttonholes. I assume that this dress was handmade as there were a variety of colors used in stitching the dress together. I guess that I'm not the only one who has used up thread that is "close-enough" in color : )

The only thing I'm not quite sure about are the shoulder pads. They are the only aspect of 1940s fashion that I'm just not sold on. I guess I am afraid of the football player aesthetic, or perhaps I associate shoulder pads with the '80s. I'm not sure! I suppose I could take them out and replace them with slimmer shoulder pads, but I don't want to mess with the original fit of the dress. I'll have to think about it. Other than that I am glad that I splurged on this dress!

Fixer-upper

 I have had this dress on my to-do list for quite some time now. I saw it at the Salvation Army a couple of years ago and bought it because I like shirt-dresses and I liked the turquoise-y blue color of the fabric. In its original state it needed some help though. I looked towards my pattern collection for some inspiration on this one.

Simplicity 5752

Simplicity 2222

I started by cutting apart all the basic parts of the dress; the sleeves, skirt, and bodice. On the bodice, I took in several inches from the side seams and then added darts in the front and in the back for some shaping. I cut the elastic off the skirt and added pleats along the waistline. I created the loose, cuffed sleeves using Simplicity 2222.

 The only thing I don't like about the dress is the collar. It looks a bit large to me, probably just due to the original size of the dress. That won't stop me from wearing it though! I look forward to wearing dresses like this one as a teacher because it is comfortable and I don't have to fret too much if I get paint or clay on it. The dress was cheap and I didn't spend too much time and effort fixing it up!