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Rate the Dress: 1930s Lame Glamour

Last week I showed a smocked 1890s Liberty of London dress in black china silk.  Half of  you loved, loved, loved it, the other half of you thought it incredibly blah.

However, even those who loved it  had small reservations.  The display wasn’t ideal (granted, not the dresses fault), and you couldn’t decide if the back asymmetry was real or an illusion created by the display.  Some of you thought that while good, it wasn’t as good as most other Liberty dresses made from the same basic pattern.  And quite a few of you didn’t like the sleeves (which, ironically, were my favourite part, as I felt they made the dress more interesting  than other similar Liberty gowns, and kept it from twee-ness).

Despite potential blah-ness and not-quite-perfection ratings, it managed an  overall rating of 8.3 out of 10.  Pretty good!

(Though it ought to win bonus points for inspiring only two #.5 ratings, making my tallying up much easier 😉 )

This week, I’m celebrating the launch of the Ngaio Blouse with a 1930s pick for  Rate the Dress.

I’ve gone for a slinky, body conscious evening gown along the lines of something one of Ngaio Marshes’ glamorous actress femme maybe-fatales might have worn:

This Jessie Franklin Turner number in gold lame uses bias cutting which flows  and clings about the body.  The unusual arm treatment blurs the line between sleeves and gauntlet-gloves, drawing attention to the glimpses of skin seen at the upper arms.  The gold lame has faded and tarnished slightly with time, but you can still clearly see how the gown would have shimmered and glowed and caught the light as it moved.

What do you think?  Is the overall effect dramatic and alluring (as per the Met’s object description), or just a bit gimmicky?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10.

(next week I think I need to pick something with pattern!)

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Ngaio Blouse – the difference in cup sizes, illustrated

When I first planned the Ngaio Blouse as a pattern I intended to offer it in one standard size, and do a tutorial on how to do a full bust adjustment (FBA) on it, since the pattern pieces aren’t standard shapes that most sewers are used to adjusting. Then I thought: why not just do it for you?

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse scrooppatterns.com

I thought you might appreciate a bit of insight into the method I used, the calculations behind it, and what affect that has on the final fit.

The simplest way to measure cup size is to measure the difference between your full bust measure, and your high bust measure:

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse scrooppatterns.com

According to this system, an A cup has a 1″ difference, a B cup has a 2″ difference, a C cup a 3″, etc, etc.

This is the measuring system I use for the Ngaio blouse, because it works reasonably well for most bodies, is the same system most other pattern companies use (so I’m not throwing a bunch of weird measures you’re not expecting at you), and is simple to measure and calculate.  However, it isn’t a perfect system by any means, because it  doesn’t  take into account:

Ribcage shape:  If you have a very square/rectangular ribcage, or a very triangular ribcage, the same size pattern will fit you differently,  For example, Ms. T and Ms R have the exact same high and full bust measure, but Ms T has a very triangular ribcage, and Ms R has a square/rectangular ribcage, so their underbust measures are 4″ different.  For her bra to fit properly, Ms T  is almost certainly going to wear a bra that is significantly smaller in the band width, and significantly bigger in the cup size, than Ms R.

Breast shape: The overbust vs full bust measure system assumes that breasts stick out from the body proportionately to increases in cup size, but that isn’t how many busts work.  Breasts  can be small, but very pointy, or large, but flatter  and more spreading.

Because of these imperfections in the measuring system, the cup size you get when  calculating your bust size for the Ngaio blouse may not match the cup size you’re used to wearing in a bra.  That’s OK!  Just follow the pattern, but make a toile (as is recommended with every pattern)  to check the fit and make adjustments.

If you’re between measures according to the system you should think about your back and shoulders.  If you have a narrow back and small shoulders, you’re probably going to fit better in the larger cup size that you’re between, which will put you in an overall smaller size.  If you have a wide back and wide shoulders, you’ll probably fit better in an overall larger size, with a smaller cup size.

To show the difference in cup sizing, the gorgeous  Jenni (who sits best in the Large cup sizing) modelled both Ngaio in both the Medium and the Large cup sizing.

Here is Jenni in her size, but with a Medium cup:

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

Note how the bust line sits on her bust, instead of under it, and how the top wants to crease and pull from back to front, and all the extra fullness below the bust.

Now, in the correct bust size according to her measures:

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The bust line sits under her bust, and the blouse sits smoothly below the bust, skimming the stomach,  with no pulling and wrinkles from back to front.

Of course, different cup sizing still doesn’t  take into account how high or low your bust sits on your body, which takes its own adjustment.

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

Introducing the Scroop Ngaio Blouse

Meet the newest Scroop Pattern: the Ngaio Blouse, a 1930s inspired blouse, with bodice pieces for three different cup size ranges, from  A cup to F+ cup.

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse scrooppatterns.com

The Ngaio Blouse, (pronounced Ny-e-0, with the e almost silent – learn how to say it properly here), named for Dame Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand playwright and novelist most famous for being one of the ‘Queens of Crime’ of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in the 20s & 30s, along with Agatha Christie.

The Ngaio blouse was  inspired by a vintage 1930s pattern in my collection which looks absolutely gorgeous in the cover illustration, but not much like it made up – once you managed to make it up, as none of the seams matched!  The Ngaio captures the look of the vintage pattern illustration, with a modern fit, full instructions (and, very importantly, seams that match up 😉 ).

The Ngaio features a V-neck and gathered upper bodice. Back darts provide shaping below the waist so the top skims the waist and sits snugly on the hips. The darts release at the waist creating a blouson upper back. View A is sleeveless, View B has short sleeves.

The darts that release at the waist allow the Ngaio blouse to be pulled on over the head, making for easy closure-free sewing (I know it seems like it wouldn’t work, but trust me, it does!  Many of my testers commented that they thought it would be a tight wriggle, and were surprised at how easy it is to get on and off!)

The Ngaio is particularly flattering on full busts, and to make it really easy to fit, no matter what your cup size, the Ngaio comes with separate bodice pieces for Small (A-B cup), Medium (C-DD/E cup) and Large (F+ cup) bust cup sizes.

The Ngaio comes in a slightly smaller size range than my previous Scroop Patterns, from a 32″ bust to a 50″ bust (rather than 30″ to 50″).

My gorgeous model, Jenni is just barely in F cup sizing, and is models the Medium cup  (in yellow spotted silk crepe de chine) and the Large cup  (in blue and yellow silk-cotton voile) to show the difference in fit:

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com
The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com
The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com
The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

As a B cup, I’m modelling the Small Cup size  in linen voile with sleeves, and in silk crepe de chine without:

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

The Ngaio is designed to pair perfectly with the Fantail Skirt, worn out or tucked in, but also sits nicely over jeans.

The Scroop Ngaio Blouse thedreamstress.com

Buy it here!