Stripes, Chevrons, and Crinolines, oh my!

Images from Timeless Vixen Vintage

As soon as I saw this lovely vintage dress, I just had to have my own.  And thanks to “Make this Look” via The Sew Weekly, now I do!

And does anyone else remember this dress?  I did not think of the connection until after I completed my dress, but clearly, it was in my memory banks.

The lovely Solanah of Vixen Vintage

I wanted to copy the rainbow stripe look of the original, but with less than a week, I was stuck with whatever fabric I could find at JoAnn Fabrics.

I started with the clearance section, but nothing was suitable.  Next, I headed to the quilting cottons.  While I would have preferred a crisp silk taffeta, I realize that was next to impossible.  Besides, I needed seven yards of 45” fabric to ensure that stripe matching was possible, and silk taffeta is a little too expensive for a project that I am not sure will work out!

After pulling every striped fabric off the shelves that was not completely hideous, I decided on this one.

The stripes are directional because of the thin navy line running through each stripe, which made my cutting layout a bit of a bother.  But I stuck with it. 

To keep myself from going crazy, I marked the turquoise stripes in chalk on each pattern piece for a frame of reference when cutting the second piece.

Well, I was so careful with my stripe matching, I forgot to flip one skirt piece over while cutting out my duplicate piece.  Whoops!  It’s been awhile since I made that mistake!  Good thing I purchased a little extra fabric!

The original inspiration uses a lengthwise stripe and a gathered dirndl skirt.  When I purchased Vogue 1172, I did not look very closely at the line drawing, and assumed that it was a basic circle skirt.  However, the wide hem is created by inserting four godets between front, back, and side skirt pieces.  So, the question was, do I go for an easy rectangle, basic circle, or hope for the best and go for the godets?

Before cutting, I drew some very rough sketches of the dress with crazy grainlines going every which way.  Most girls are told to avoid horizontal stripes at all costs, and I would normally fall into this category.  However, when multiple crinolines are involved, anything goes.

And since I was messing with grainline, I decided that lining the bodice with pieces cut on the suggested grain was a good idea.  Being in a colorful mindset, I went with a bit of color-blocking.  Actually, the navy colored cotton was out of stock, or at least, not to be found, and since I could not decide between the two colors, I went ahead and used both.

On my fabric searching expedition, I wandered up the button aisle, and found this lovely button.  It was the last of its kind, and I decided to rescue it.  I decided I would make a little brooch for my dress, which I had planned to place at the center front v-neck.  But it just did not look right with my red buckle (pulled from the stash) which worked to break up the stripes a bit.  That, and it was easier than using a kit to make a self-fabric one.

I cannot decide if I look like lawn chair furniture, or 1950s does nautical . . . but whatever it may be, I am very pleased with the outcome.

And for your twirling pleasure – this is what seven yards of fabric looks like!

Dress:  Made by me, Vogue 1172

Sweater:  Made by me, Lipstick Cabled Cardi

Shoes:  Seychelles “Babydoll” in Off White

Fishnets:  Hue

Crinolines:  Made by me + tea length crinoline purchased on ebay

Earrings:  Rummage sale.  (I really loves these earrings, but they have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that clip-ons are EVIL.  One of these days I will get around to swapping out the devil’s clip with a post.)

Ring:  Gift from mom, my Grandfather’s class ring
Purse:  Harveys Seatbelt Bag "Bow Tide Blue"