All posts tagged: 1950s

Rate the dress about which I know nothing

There were some rather divided opinions about last week’s black and white-ish dress. Some thought perfection, others though the dress and corselet didn’t match, and others thought it looked like the evil queen dressed up as Snow White. All came together for a not-quite-fairytale total of 7.5 out of 10 One of my sewing students found this image and showed it to me: I’m intrigued. It looks so familiar, but I can’t quite place it. The skirt is reminiscent of a Charles James, particularly the four leaf clover dress, but I’m not sure about the whole thing as a Charles James. So today I want to know two things. One, do you recognise this dress or know anything about it? And two, what do you think of it? Perfect combination of business and pleasure? Too many ideas at once? Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10 UPDATE: Huge round of applause for Daniel who identified the dress as Lachasse’s 1955 ‘Coat Dress’, now in the collection of the Manchester City …

The fabulous, flirty 1950s

Published by The Dreamstress

My next class at Made on Marion is a full skirted, 1950s dress class. Why? Because full skirted dresses are awesome and gorgeous and fun to wear. However, they can also be a little tricky to make. How to gather all that fabric in, get the hem of a circle skirt to be perfectly even, fit the bodice? Does it need boning? What about a petticoat, and what kind? What about horsehair at the hem? Will it work for a border print? What about a directional print? A class is the perfect way to work through that, whether you have a vintage 1950s pattern you want to tackle (and maybe need to size up from a 32 bust to a 36 bust!) or a modern reprint of a vintage. To inspire prospective students, here are a few of my favourite 1950s patterns, some of which I own, some of which I don’t: I just got this one. Look at the gorgeous nautical detailing: The pattern envelope describes this as “A dress to be worn with …

Early 1950s fashions & fabrics in Japan, Part 5 of 5

Published by The Dreamstress

This is it. The last few pages of my catalogue of early 1950s sewing patterns and fabrics for the Japanese market. No I guess I’m going to have to start making some of them up! There is actually a little story to these photographs that I haven’t told you. I went out one afternoon, bought lots of delicious things at the Asia Gallery, got given the patterns, was having an absolutely fabulous day. Then I got home. And realised I didn’t have my key, and the house was completely locked up. Blast! Mr D would be home from work in an hour or so, and it was the middle of summer, so light and warm, so I decided to wait it out. Felicity came out of her cat door and meeped at me while she tried to work out why I wasn’t coming inside. And I tried to find something to occupy my time. I realised I had my camera (I always have my camera) and the catalogue to look at. So all of these …