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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

easy.

simplicity 2622 (1958). Shirtwaist dress.

mom suggested i take a break from grading vintage patterns & figuring out fit issues to sew something easy & fun.

as always, mom's got the right idea, so i found a couple of easy vintage patterns. like the shirtwaist dress above on the left. how hard could it be? the pattern is my size, the skirt is full, so i doubt i'll have to alter anything there. at worst, i might have to do a little something to the bodice but we're talking minimal fit issues. just what i'm looking for.

i've wanted to do a shirtwaist dress for awhile, but couldn't recall why until i found this fabric


which made me remember the amazing stripey madness of Claire McCardell's mitered shirtwaist dress. you need to click the photo for the larger image in order to fully appreciate her brilliant work with those stripes.


(Photo source: from the book Claire McCardell: Redefining Modernism by Kohle Yohannan and Nancy Nolf, published 1998).
Day dress and belt. Cotton, leather. 1949. Mitered cotton shirtwaist dress with bias-cut bodice. McCardell's favorite sleeve: cut on the bias and all in one with the bodice. The paneled skirt is cut on the straight grain & pieced horizontally, creating an optical visual effect when seen from the front.
for a minute there, i actually thought it would be tremendous loads of fun piecing together a few stripes for my new shirtwaist dress.

you know, a breezy weekend with the sewing machine. finally.

major visual disasters everywhere.

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