The Black and White Dress, Finished 55 Years Later
I’m part-way through finishing off two dresses from the 1970s (or 1960s?). These two partly-made dresses came in a collection of fabric given to me nine years ago.
Going for a quick win early on, as you do, I worked on the black and white dress first. It was already mostly sewn, just in two halves:
All I needed to do was stitch them together, add a back zip, and check the fit.
Then things took an interesting turn. I discovered that this dress wasn’t made at home – it was a shop-bought dress. (The fabric looks new and unworn, so was it bought too big?) The clue was a blind hem of the sort that only factory machines do.
Which means that the pink overlocking with green safety stitch was also done in the factory. Did not expect that. The whole dress is actually overlocked together, no regular machine.
I also discovered a little cut in the fabric near the centre front (after I’d sewn the seam; the white overlocking is mine), which I patched on the inside. The previous owner had tried to move the seam over to hide it, but I thought it was too far to move it.
My older teen (who has long covid and only wears nighties) expressed an interest in having this dress. I said nighties don’t have zips, and I thought it would work better as a dress. But then I discovered that it could be pulled on over the head. So she’ll try out it as a nightie and if it isn’t suitable I’ll take it back and fit it as a dress with a zip. She likes nighties that look like dresses, in case we have visitors.
Now, onto the second “dress” which currently consists of a flared skirt, basted together, and a bunch of scraps to cut a bodice.
What to do for the top part? I had a look through my vintage pattern collection for some inspiration.
I also looked in some books…
The decider, of course, is going to be how much fabric is in the scraps.
Join me next week when things should be a little further along!
My sympathies to your young nightie-wearer! I spend more time in nightwear than out of it (for similar reasons).
I recently made a nightie from this dress pattern:
https://yansewing.com/2018/04/blog-post_20.html/
with some alterations – full length, neck fastening at the front with buttons, no waist tie, etc.
The wearable toile was sewn from a retro orangey floral flannel sheet, and is a great success (and I hope to blog about it when energy permits). I’m thinking red tartan flannel for the next one.
This looks like a good choice. The design details get very specific, don’t? My teen has clear preferences for some nighties over others, for fabric softness, neckline height, volume of fabric in the skirt part, and other features.
Sending you well-wishes 🙂
What an unexpected twist to the story! I almost feel like I’m watching a drama. I wonder what plot twist the flared skirt/dress will bring?
The pink and green factory overlocking is fun and unexpected – a little pop of secret colour on the inside. Not something I expect to see from RTW! I wonder if the cut in the front was the impetus for ripping the CF and CB seams open, or if the cut occurring while ripping the CF seam open. I guess we’ll never know – the dress can’t speak!
This dress ended up being more interesting on the inside than the outside. As well as the pink and green overlocking, a section of the facing seam is overlocked in black. No labels at all on the dress, or sign of there being one. I guess we can only speculate on the cut in the front 🙂
How interesting that the black and white dress is shop-bought! I was thinking how odd it was to be in two halves like that – I’ve never seen a dress constructed in that order before, although it probably makes sense for the alterations you’ve discussed.
Yes, totally unexpected! I wonder if the dress was cut up the front to try and make it smaller, or to try and disguise the little cut within a seam (but then why unpick the back too? And the cut could have been discretely patched because it was on a black section).