For me, the seasons are measured by the school year. It’s been that way since I started teaching children how to sew about 15 years ago and when my daughter started preschool. So this season, while technically (and temperature wise) Summer, is really the beginning of Autumn. It’s back-to-school for all the kiddos and back to normalcy for my schedule.

That being said, you might imagine that my time for sewing has been a little bit too little lately, so my next couple of blog posts will be a little brief. I’ve been enjoying sewing for the sake of sewing and for getting to wear something new.

I really enjoyed putting this outfit together once I realized I had all the accessories I needed. I also wore this another time with a black hair flower/feather when it was too warm for the hat.

Green Shoes, green buttons , green belt buckle and hat all in that terrific 1930’s bottle green color. I just love that color and hope to find some fabric to make myself a purse. I have a wool purse, but it has no strap and is somewhat small, so it’s time for a new one. I used red accents with my earrings and bracelet (both made from Cinnabar) to contrast with the green and compliment the red and green floral print on the black ground of the silk.

My friend Kristin Wojowski of All Things Vintage was kind enough to take these photos, which turned out really terrific, I think.

When sewing this dress, I first measured the pattern. My figure has changed slightly and I wanted to make sure it was going to fit. Measuring your pattern is a great way to check if your pattern is in the ballpark for your actual body measurements and can really help with adjustments, prior to cutting the fabric. This pattern measured very good to my body, which was great news. I’ve been feeling very LAZY lately and don’t want to do much “extra” on anything. The shoulders seemed a bit wide but I decided to sew it up all the way and adjust later if needed. And I did end up taking a 1/2” off each side of the shoulder on the bodice. This meant fewer gathers on the sleeve, but I was totally ok with that. Note, that I did sew the arms in first and then undid them to adjust the shoulder width before re-stitching them in place and adding very light shoulder pads. There are plenty of buying options for shoulder pads, but I used the left over shoulder pads from my 1980’s to 1930’s dress, so I really felt like I was using my resources! Otherwise I sewed this up exactly like the pattern and I’m very happy with the results.

Here are all the details:

• Pattern - Vintage Simplicity 4614 - 1940’s Dress pattern

• Fabric - Claudia’s Legacy Linens - She mostly sells vintage linens but she also has a stash of apparel fabrics that are to die for

• Buttons - Vintage from Britex Fabrics in SF

• Hat - Made by me 1930s Ladies Hat, Scarf & Gloves - Reproduction 1934-35 Sewing Pattern #H2851 - Hat C - Vintage Pattern Lending Library. You can see the post for that hat here.

• Shoes - Vintage Remix - Anita in Pepper Green

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

xo Jennifer