Blue

I've made another new dress... I had actually started to draft the bodice for this one the day before I started work on the party dress, so it made sense to pick up where I had left off. 
This is a typical example of a garment inspired by the fabric. I've had the blue cotton of the skirt in my stash for a few years. It's a nice quality cotton with a subtle kind of glow to it but it's also a bit on the thick and stiff side. I've used it for my very first project from a vintage pattern, the Marion dress, and then again last year, for the blouse for my 1957 outfit. Which, by pure coincidence, was also made from a pattern from the sewing magazine Marion. The dress didn't quite work for me, I've hardly worn it and given it away during some wardrobe-clear-out in the past years. I still love the blouse. 
There were still two meters of this fabric left in my stash when, earlier this year, I found the blue jersey at the market. Nice cotton jersey, in a colour which suits me and on sale. Of course I had to buy some. And I immediately thought it might match some cotton in my stash (either this stuff or another piece of slightly darker and thinner cotton). In fact, the jersey matched both pieces of cotton but I liked this combination the best.  

In my sketch, I imagined a dress with this top and a more A-line skirt with a few sharp pleats. When I had started sewing on the top however, I kept thinking about the lower-waist dresses from the mid-1950's. Those usually have a fitted bodice and a very full gathered or pleated skirt. 

This particular example from Marion magazine is not very glamorous but shows the principle pretty well. 
I've made sort-of retro flavoured dresses with lower waists before, both in woven and knitted fabrics but it's a nice and different style to play around with.

This version has a slightly longer bodice than the previous ones, long sleeves a shirt collar and button tab and a full gathered skirt with slash pockets at the side seams. And I've hemmed the skirt about 10 cm longer at the back. 
It could do with some extra 'pouf' in the skirt but my usual fluffy petticoat starts building up width close to the waistband so it would have to be worn really low on the hips to work under this dress. 

I'm happy with the bodice but wasn't quite sure about the look as a whole when I first tried on the nearly finished dress. E said he liked it though and now, after hemming I tend to agree. And it is really comfortable. 
And of course, it's great to twirl around in...

P.S. I didn't really feel like posing for pictures but I wanted to be able to blog about this dress so I did it anyway. And somehow I managed to look angry or have my eyes closed in just about every image. E served as photographer but didn't notice. Usually I edit out pictures in which I make such faces but in this case that would have left me with just one.