The Dreamstress

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My Ballerina Moment

Last week I discussed the idea of how every girl should have a ballerina moment, and shared my inspiration for a ballerina inspired dress, using my grandmother’s fabric and pattern.

I have definitely had my ballerina moment now, and it was worth every bit of angst and mad sewing and panicked moment of ‘Oh no! I’ve ruined my fabric!’.

As it turned out, my ballerina moment wasn’t, as I had planned, the Windy Lindy ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ ball. The dress was done, and I wore it, but the ball was a bit of a wash-out for me: the music was too loud, the dance floor too crowded, the theme didn’t quite come together, and I wasn’t feeling well the whole weekend.

So I had to wait another week to be a ballerina, but it came together perfectly: I spent the night in Palmerston North with the fabulous Juliet of The Crazy Gypsy Chronicles, and we had a girl’s night and ate Korean and had too much chocolate silk cake and stayed up too late at night getting excited talking about history and linguistics and sewing and sharing our fabric and pattern stashes and Victorian letter writing books and between-the-wars etiquette guides and basically geeking out about being us. And then the next day we went to Palmy’s Fabric-a-Brac and gorged on more fabric deliciousness and basically had the ultimate sewist weekend.

But before we did that, we had a photoshoot in the Palmerston North Esplanade, amongst the rhododendron trees and in the fountain pool and the gazebo.

And, despite the freezing wind, and a shoe malfunction, and the wrong bra so the bodice doesn’t fit properly, I felt utterly gorgeous and ballerina-y.

In addition to my ballerina moment, I had a Cecil Beaton interlude with the spring iris display:

And a bit of la dolce vita when Juliet convinced me to get in the fountain:

Looking back at the pictures, and thinking of how I felt as I left Wellington for the drive up to Palmerston North, I realised that my ballerina moment had become about far more than putting on a pretty pink dress and pretending to be a dancer. It was a little opportunity to get away from my life, which has been too hectic and busy and stressful lately. It gave me a space and time away from the pressures I put on myself. Be competent. Capable. Mature. Do everything. Live up to everyone’s expectations. Always have the answers. Get it right.

The fluffy pink dress was something I had to do before I was too old for it, because being a ballerina is a little girl’s dream. But being a child for a moment is the most important thing, no matter how old I am. I have to have those moments to be a little girl again, as a relief valve for everything I demand of myself.

Ballerina moments and time in trees are my personal alternative universes, where I can pretend that I don’t have to worry about anything but how pretty the hem of my skirt is when I twirl. And I think we all need that kind of moment, however we express it.

The Challenge: #20 Alternative Universe

The Alternative Universe: Ballet is basically an alternative universe in and of itself: a world where stories and emotions are all told silently, on point. The ballets that inspired me were all based on fairytales set in fantasy lands where fairy godmothers grant wishes, the dead dance with the living as spirits, girls become birds, and princesses sleep for centuries as roses grow around them. I also wore the dress to an ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ ball (a la Back to the Future), and anything with time travel has to be an alternative universe!

Fabric: 5 metres of vintage silk organza embroidered with ribbon roses, from my Grandmother, and 2.5m of vintage polished cotton from Fabric-a-Brac ($8 for almost 5m)

Pattern: Butterick 6485

Year: The pattern is from 1952/3, but my inspiration included ballet costumes of the 1830s & 40s.

Notions: cotton thread, bias tape (3 whole packets, also from Fabric-a-Brac), and a vintage zip.

How historically accurate is it?: Not at all for my 1830s/40s inspiration, as the pattern and sewing techniques are all 1950s.

Hours to complete: 7-9

First worn: To a Back to the Future ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ ball, Sat 25 Oct, and then again on Halloween for the photoshoot.

Total cost: Under $10.

Monogrammed sportswear in the 1920s

Published by The Dreamstress

Carrying on with showing you the bits from my Bestway Initial Transfer catalogue, here are the pages featuring monogrammed sportswear – so not only could you have monogrammed unders, but you can wear monogrammed tennis dresses over them!

The first page features monogrammed blouses and blazers for women, a ‘smart’ day ensemble, a monogrammed mens shirt, and (best of all!) a swimsuit!

Oh wait, I stand corrected. The day ensemble is not just ‘smart’, but ‘exceedingly smart’! Don’t you love the tricorn-esque hat?

And here is the write-up for the ensemble and the swimsuit:

I think I might need to add a swimsuit in navy stockinette with red trim to my swimsuit collection – and add a rosette covered hat! Check out her lace-up beach boots too!

I also need the pointed-bottom blouse. I could see that on the catwalk today – and in my own wardrobe! I also adore the cloche worn with the classic cardigan blazer. It’s such a perfect illustration of the late teens and early ’20s cloche – still with a distinct brim.

The blazer is ‘just right for tennis’, and the ‘jumper blouse’ is embroidered in tangerine silk. Be still my heart!

I’m trying to figure out what fabric ‘taffetas’ was that it made a suitable tennis shirt for a man. Perhaps a rayon taffeta, which would be a lot softer and less crisp? More research must be done!

The next page features more blouses, a tennis dress, an overall for housework, and a men’s blazer:

Here is a close up of the overall:

I find the ‘overall’ dress one of the more fascinating garments featured in the catalogue. It’s clearly the precursor/older sister to the 1930s hooverette frocks. This version is made of grass-green ‘government silk’, which is another term I’m going to have to add to my terminology research list. I strongly suspect it is either a rayon, or a silk blend, and the name is because it was officially promoted during the silk shortages of WWI. I actually love how the overall dress looks, and want one for myself. Probably without the monogram, and DEFINITELY without that cap!

There is also a very chic tennis dress:

On the other page, a suave man in a blazer and a striped silk scarf, and (since this is the ’20s), a cigarette.

But the best piece of all is a simple silk blouse.

Why is it the best? Not the fabulous hat or the fabulous parasol, but the embroidery, which is topped with ‘a lucky black cat’.

Adorable.

Sadly, I’ve heard anecdotaly that the globalisation of media is eroding the the British tradition of lucky black cats, and replacing it with the more American & European ‘unlucky’ black cat superstition – which isn’t great for black cats. In my opinion, all cats are lucky, and I’d be delighted to have a blouse with one embroidered on it!

Rate the Dress: Flower Fantasy

Published by The Dreamstress

Some of you may have wondered why there was no Rate the Dress when you got up this morning. I’m just really tired, and overworked. There is a lot going on this time of year: Windy Lindy, student marking, and me trying to do everything all at once! So RTD just wasn’t a priority.

Which is why there is now a rate the dress, but no tally-up of last week’s selection (hehe, THAT is going to be fun). I’m going to go hang out the laundry and do a bit of gardening to relax, and then I’ll get back to it.

At least picking the rating choice was easy. This has been in my file as the selection for the week before Halloween for almost a year now. How could it not be? It’s a fancy dress that has enormous beetles and insects all over it!

Fancy dress, circa 1907

So what do you think? If you saw someone dressed as this at a costume party circa 1907, would you think ‘That is SO AWESOME!” (or whatever the ca. 1900 equivalent of “SO AWESOME” is – I welcome your suggestions on that point). Or would you think “Creepy and horrible”? Or “Random and messy?”

What’s the verdict on the buggy flower frock?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

*And if anyone has a link to the original source for this image, that would be much appreciated! I’ve seen it pop up on pinterest, but never with a link back to an original page.