This 1930s reproduction cotton is long out of print and hard to find, but I loved it so much I tracked down a few yards. The trouble is…it's orange! I knew if it was going to work for me, it would have to majorly feature another color close to my face. So I looked through my pattern stash for patterns that would work with that element in mind.

I finally settled on an early 1940s pattern that I've had for years, and never got around to making before. I hadn't even noticed until I took a closer look that adorable belt detail, and that instead of a shaped yoke, the color triangles on the top are actually pocket flaps. Definitely time to pull it out and give it life. With the fall-ish color scheme, I decided it would be a good Thanksgiving Day dress.

I couldn't match the blue in the print exactly, but got fairly close. I forgot what I was doing and cut the sleeves out of the orange print first, and had to recut them in the blue. Otherwise it was pretty straightforward.

The bodice has princess seams, so you sew those first and then add the yoke. Because of the strong difference in colors, I had to switch out my thread several times – even left half the facing unsewn for a while until I had that color of thread back on the machine. So I didn't follow the pattern steps exactly. 

My first try-on showed that the skirt was too tight around the hips, so I let out some of those seams, and also had to take off the basted skirt and trim the bodice shorter (which is pretty standard procedure for me…) By this time it was the day before Thanksgiving, and though I usually finish things well ahead of my mental deadlines, for this one I dawdled too much and ended up having to stay up late the night before, despite being tired, to finish up the last few things. I was too tired to try on and press it that night, so it was going to be how it was going to be!

Thankfully I had no major issues. The fit isn't quite perfect, but overall I am happy with it.

I rarely take time to make matching belts, but this one was too cute not too. It's could be buckled, or alternatively buttoned shut with a button at each point, but I decided to leave it more adjustable (you know, as waistlines come and go…) and just close it with a hook and eye under the tip instead. 

Nobody needs to know that because of how short on time I was, it actually closes with a safety pin instead, for now! :-) 

Instead of buttoning this all the way up like is shown, I folded down the mandarin collar. My neck is too short to work with most stand-up collars, and this just looked better. Plus it meant less buttonholes and buttons to sew on. 

I used a few buttons from my stash – the amount was determined by how many I had, that were the right color. I was debating between using 3 or 4, but when I had 3 of something that matched, that's what I went with. Being in a hurry, as I already mentioned.

I almost forgot about the pockets! I realized the pieces were still lying there after the dress was almost finished, and almost decided to omit them. I'm glad I didn't, because they are some of the cutest details. I don't like pockets over the bust area, however, so I ended up stitching them down flat so they aren't actually pockets – more like fancy trimming. 

They were really fun though…just squares faced with the opposite color, then arranged so that one point falls down and shows the facing. Because the facing is the same color as the yoke, it makes it look like an elaborate double point, but it's really super easy!

The sleeves were darted – my favorite way to do sleeves – and the skirt had some simple gores. Oh, the back skirt piece was missing, so I had to substitute one from a similar pattern…but so often these patterns from the same era are so similar it's not hard to substitute without any other alterations, and doesn't change the finished look materially at all.

I like how the belt mirrors the points on the bodice AND ties in the blue yoke in such a perfect way. 

So despite the few hiccups in the process, I did have a new dress to wear for Thanksgiving, and felt very festive in it all day. Though that may have been the result of our first snow of the year, so we had a white Thanksgiving. A background of autumn leaves would have matched this dress better, but we were one day too late for that. Incidentally, sandals with leather soles are NOT the best footgear to wear in the snow. 🙂

This is probably the closest I'll ever get to wearing orange, so I'm hoping my little fashion trick worked out well enough that I'll enjoy wearing the dress once warm weather comes again. Next I'm putting away the cottons and doing something fun for winter, because it is definitely here.