January 23, 2015

Embarrassment of riches

First of all: Thank you for all the nice comments on my new dress!

I've been sewing these past days and I will show you some of the results later (there is another pattern-experiment and I'm finally making some slips) but I'm also thinking about the next project. 
When I recently discussed the three dresses at the top of my list, all the commenters agreed, and rightly so, that the wool crepe dress should be first. After all, if I make that now, I can still wear it this year. The other two, being cotton will very likely be fine to wear well into spring. 

So, I agree. And I was looking at my 1920's magazines this week anyway (to answer a question on the new WeSewRetro Sew & Tell group on Facebook but I found so many great pictures that I've also started a 1920's Pinterest board) so I had the perfect opportunity to dig out the pattern.

And then I started to doubt... First of all: This colour is rather new to me and although I think I can wear it, I don't know what kind of look it will give me. It's a useless consideration, I know, but it has become a natural reflex because I used to wear lots of black. Once I "know" a colour I'm over it.
But more to the point: Is this the best (non-party) 1920's dress pattern for me and this fabric? 
It was in my original selection when I was looking for 1920's patterns for last year's Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge and I still think it's the best candidate from those.

Although I also still like this one (but I don't have a nice contrast fabric).

However, yesterday, I was going through the pages of those Gracieuse magazines again. And I guess I've become a bit more used to the 1920's aesthetic. And I found more options although they may not all be possible because of the limited amount of fabric available.

The one here in the middle: Slim skirt with single drape at center front, bloused top with nice button details.

Again the one in the middle, it sort of looks like a dress and an unstructured jacket but it's all in one. Although this one might look very frumpy, very easily.

Here, it's the middle one,

and the one on the right. Interestingly, these are presented as designs for middle aged ladies. 

And then, there are these... If the pattern for the dress in the middle were included, I wouldn't be writing this. I love the look of that dress! When I get to grips with the late 1920's shape and fit, I'll draft a pattern for something like it myself. 
Right now, I am still looking for a pattern and the dresses at left and right are candidates.

The way I've shown the dresses here, they are also in chronological order. I think they are all from 1927 and 1928 but you can see the start of a subtle shift towards more skirt and a natural position for the waistline. 

I've also come up with another option: I could make the design I picked originally but change the decoration of the belt piece: Instead of the pin-tucks (which would be rather fiddly in wool crepe and for which the calculation on the pattern is overly complicated) I could make a draped piece, maybe with a twist instead of the buckle. Somehow, that feels a bit more 'me'...

Well, I'm still thinking about it and I'm open to suggestions.

1 comment:

  1. Oh, those are some yummy pictures---I'm very excited to see how different it will look on you! :) I love the three in the second picture, but the first does look like one of the most "wearable" designs. :)

    Can't wait!

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