Sage Green Vintage

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I collect vintage clothing. Every few years I go through a phase where I do a lot of buying, whether at Thrift Stores or eBay and renew my collection with fun things to wear. This dress was purchased at the tail end of my last eBay buying spree, more than a year ago. I had it cleaned and it has been hanging since then....because, while I love vintage clothing and designs, they don't always love me!

After Pic, sorry I forgot the Before!

I thought this dress was a likely suspect right from the start: a relatively high neckline, a kimono style sleeve (more on why that is important later!) and the skirt's measurement put the length right below my knee! Sounds perfect right? Well when it came it was not at all perfect. If you look at the picture here (Sorry, I forgot to take before pics!) the Ivory silk section is new.  When I put the dress on for the first time the skirt started right where the Ivory meets the bodice!  (So of course the "just right" skirt length was way too short, even if I could bring myself to wear it so short-waisted.)

When I buy vintage clothing I usually have 2 problems.  The first is that, although I don't consider myself long-waisted, I regularly find things to be too short.   Women with my body "size" in the past were shorter in the past.  They also were inclined to wear things somewhat higher on the waist as well I think, but it feels and looks awkward to me. 

This is somewhat related to my first problem, which is my gigantic Football Player shoulders on an otherwise scrawny body.  This is why the Kimono Sleeve is key.  Many times I have purchased dresses that pull tightly across the shoulders and under the arm but fit perfectly elsewhere.  Many times.  sigh!  The reason I think this is related to the first problem is that, especially in raglan and kimono style sleeves, the dress rests very differently across MY shoulders than intended, pulling up waistlines etc.  Compounding the problem my bustline is not what was considered "ideal" in the 50s....more like in the 20s: high and flat! hehehehe

The alteration was successful, but was still fraught with trouble.  I mean, I can wear the dress as it is now, but I need to be more thorough next time!  The pattern I used to make the inset panel is from a dress I used to wear all the time....I probably used the pattern 3 or 4 times.  A good basic dress, but not as fitted as it should have been in the front.  If I had used something with front rather than bust darts I think I would have been happier.  I also really should have pulled the old metal zipper out completely and set a new one.  The vintage one reset fine with the panel, but it is really too short....by the length of the panel I inset.  This makes it especially hard for me to get the dress on and off (over the shoulders....yeah, getting stuck in a dress is NOT fun.  Especially when you are trying to be careful with vintage fabrics etc!)  It goes on and off, but the added difficulty makes it less likely that I will want to wrestle with it on Sunday Morning, know what I mean?  sigh!

I do love the way the bias band wraps across the front and the waterfall sash effect.  If I were really dedicated (which I contemplated) I should have done the whole panel in bias pleats, but I was worried I would never actually get it DONE so took the easy route.  I can't even picture what the pattern would look like to inset the pleats like that!

The last pic is a representation of the ill-fated nature of this adventure:  That is a picture of my blood.  While trying it on in one of the pinned up phases, I apparently stabbed myself without noticing and bled all over everything!  I saw this spot, gave a little "argh!" of exasperation (took the picture for a funny note in the blog) and took of the dress and washed the little spot off.  Came right out.  I was very pleased.  What I didn't notice was the 7 other places I sopped up my blood across the back of the dress as I fidgeted with the fit!  I can NOT believe that I bled that much without noticing.  ugh!  N. says I should weep a bit on it, then sweat a bit on it too for good measure. hehehe  I plan to work on the spots on the skirt this week and try to get up the energy to wear the dress to Church Sunday. 

In dim reflection of this new dare for November, the sash needs to be re-basted as it is a little crooked and I ought to finish the inside of the dress, perhaps with a lining.....but since it is unlikely to see much heavy wear, I may just be lazy. :) k.