1968!

I love the 1960's dress I made last week and judging from the comments, lots of people liked the look. It even brought back memories for some (Maria, I loved your comment!) and not just online.
My blog post inspired my mother to dig through her old photo-albums and un-earth this gem:

This is my mother back in 1970, wearing a dress made by her mother. The dress is pretty similar in shape to the one I just made but quite a bit shorter. This actually supports my theory that hemlines crept up over the course of the 1960's. A theory which was already supported by my copies of Marion magazines from the 1960's and 1970's.
Isn't this picture just lovely? It might be interesting to know that the little white dress in this idyllic summer picture was actually made of wool...

Considering how much I loved that simple dress, I don't think it's surprising I decided to make another one. 
Now, I picked this pattern:

The one on the left. Despite the terminator-esk look of the model, the dress is rather nice. A bit shorter and more form-fitting than my 1966 dress but basically another 1960's shift dress. 

I considered using black or blue/purple linen from my stash but I couldn't find any trim to go with it. But I have a big stash... This black fabric with red flower silhouettes is not something I bought myself. My sister bought it when we went to the fabric market together over two years ago. Because she is now the mother of very active 2-year-old, she doesn't sew for herself anymore (she never did a lot of sewing to begin with) and a few months ago, she gave this fabric, and some printed lycra to me. 
I wasn't sure what to do with this fabric. It's something I kind of like but in the styles of dresses I usually wear, it would be a bit too much. But for a little 1960's shift...

I think it worked. The only odd thing is that the dress a little bit Chinese to me... I think it's just because it is red and black and high neckline and sleek shape make it vaguely resemble a cheongsam (Shanghai dress). 

That neckline, by the way is something I had to change. Believe it or not but I actually had to cut it 1.5 cm lower at the front. Something which I didn't find out until after I had completely finished the all-in-one facing. 
That facing was an alteration in itself: The original pattern called for separate neck and armhole facings but I think the all-in-one variety behaves much better when you wear the dress. 

I am quite pleased with how this dress turned out as so I don't think this will be my last attempt at 1960's style...