Starting To Make Progress
Thank you all for the kind compliments and the encouragement on the Peter Rabbit costumes! I'm pleased with them and the director is very excited about the costumes. The children were very excited yesterday to see their costumes and to try on the rabbit headpieces - that was a lot of fun, to be surrounded by all those little rabbits.
Today I had to do some retro-fitting on the rabbit headpieces, but once that was done, I was able to really get started on my daughter's Easter dress. Actually, the studio seems a bit empty without all the costume pieces, plus notions and fabric hanging about. It also seems very weird only to have one project to work on (not counting the new socks I'm working on). I'm the sort of person that usually has multiple projects going at the same time. With only one, I feel a bit lost almost. Don't worry, that will change soon!
The first thing that need to be assembled was the yokes. The fronts are joined to the backs at the shoulder, both the dress and lining. The dress and lining are then stitched together along the neckline. This unit will be treated as one for the remainder of construction. I have chosen to line the yokes in the same green silk as the dress because I thought it would look nicer.
The next step is to add the body of the dress. Both the fronts and the backs will be added the same way. First the pleats are pinned in and then the backs are placed right sides together with the yoke in between the two.
Once the seam is sewn, this construction will result in a clean finish on both sides, inside and outside.
Because this silk is prone to shredding, I've decided to use the pinking shears on the seam allowances, even though they are hidden. 
Next, the pleats for the front. As you can see there are many - that is the entire front piece in the photo below. The dress pleats will most likely have to be basted before attaching the front band, so that's what I'll be working on next. 
I still have one or two more rabbit posts, so I'll try to wrap that up this week along with this Easter dress. After that, some vintage fun!Parting Shot: Simplicity 2057, c. 1957. My daughter really liked this one! Depending on the fabrication, yes, it could be a fauxlero. Even the envelope states: Top of bodice is fashioned to look like a bolero. The skirt is enormous, too, with *double* inverted pleats.
5 comments:
The Simplicity pattern looks very much like the matching dresses my mother made for my sister and I when we were children. We both had two sets of lovely petticoats each that we wore under these types of dresses. Although I no longer have the photo, I remember a picture of me wearing a yellow dress like this on a visit to St Peter's in Rome--had to put on a sweater to go in as females were not allowed to enter with bare shoulders.
I remember this type of dress also. I had petticoats. My mother starched them and hung them on the line to dry. They were stiff as boards, but did the trick of making the skirt of the dress stand out!
That pattern is just so pretty. In "retro times" it seemed like there were much prettier, much more appropriate designs for the tweens. They are more ladylike but not too childish and not too mature.
That's how I do my yokes too, nice clean finish. Dupioni is such a raveller.
The pattern is beautiful! The bodice is lovely with the faux bolero! That's an idea for a "grown up's dress too (the principle of a faux bolero on a dress)!
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