Another 1950s Rose Dress

Everything's coming up roses, apparently! Actually, since I was pregnant all spring I didn't get any of my dress ideas for my spring-ish fabric made, so now I'm hurrying to stitch some of them before fall arrives. As a result, you get the 2nd large rose print dress in a row.

This one was sewn with fabric and vintage glass buttons from The Timely Tailor, and I have to say it probably is my favorite sewing project so far for the year. I was so pleased with the fit (important since most of my Sunday dresses don't fit me again yet!) and the style.

This is the first time I've made this 1950s pattern, and I usually shy away from something with a lot of fullness in the front. This time, though, I decided to risk it, and top stitched the pleats down for a few inches, which really helps keep the waist looking trim.

It has double slanted side darts to add some pretty detail, and my favorite kind of fold back collar.

Funny story though – I was having a bit of a day when I cut this out. Everything was going wrong. And when I went to cut out this dress, I found that the front bodice piece was missing. That was a bit of a poser, since it's harder to swap out a bodice piece, especially when I wanted the details of this particular one. I ended up going through my patterns, finding one similar, kind of cobbling together a front piece that I HOPED would work out like the original, and cutting it out. It added quite a bit of hassle and time to the cutting out process.

I carried the stack of pieces to the sewing room, turned around – and there on the floor was the missing bodice piece. :-)

Thankfully the rest of the process went a lot more smoothly! But because of the substitution and my size adjustments, the collar piece ended up too short to overlap in the back like it was supposed to. It didn't even meet – there was 1-2 inches of gap that just didn't look right. So I had the idea to make a separate tab to cover it, and actually love how it turned out. It makes a petal collar that fits with the fabric very well.

Narrow white cotton lace trims the sleeves, and I went with classic white glass buttons.

The skirt is super full and swishy – even though I took out quite a bit of width to fit it on my fabric! – especially with a small crinoline, but I really like how it adds that feminine silhouette while still being trim and flattering.