The Making of the 1950's Day Dress

So I decided that I needed to make a "proper" dress at least once this summer.  I wanted a vintage look, so I took out my Simplicity pattern (the one on the right). I've had this pattern for probably a couple of years.  I think I bought it when Hobby Lobby had a sale, so this pattern cost about two dollars.

Some marking paper and a wheel help tremendously!

Here is one section of the skirt.  I laid out the fabric and pattern on the ironing board to mark the darts.  There were a total of TWELVE darts on the skirt sections alone! 

Count 'em.  Twelve! 

 Needless to say, darts are tedious things and not my favorite technique in sewing.  However, they are slightly better than pleats, which I absolutely abhor.

 I used the pattern on the left to make sleeves.  I figured it would be cooler if I didn't have to wear a blouse underneath a sleeveless dress.  I tried to be creative with my sleeves, but it didn't work.  I wanted to gather them and put cute little buttons on the side.  However, the binding I made wasn't long enough and it didn't fit my arm.  So I trimmed the sleeves.

Bad angle.  Sorry.

The odd angle of this picture is a result of me trying to hide how very messy my room was at this point.  Having an ironing board in my room didn't help matters much either. ;)  Anyway, this is the front bodice. The bodice was empire waist style.  After I had most of the dress completed, I discovered that the neckline was much too wide.  I decided to add yet more darts to the front and back of the neckline, as you can see from the pictures below.

The front darts as seen from the inside.

The front darts as seen from the outside. 

 The fabric for this dress was on sale at Hancock Fabrics.  I paid a grand total of $9.37, minus the patterns and zipper I had stocked up.  :)  
Pictures of the whole dress to come later!