Sewing My Dream Wardrobe ~ A 1940's Gothic Dress

“There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion”

- from Ligeia, Edgar Allen Poe, 1838

When I first saw the Simplicity 9464 sewing pattern, it put me in mind of the 1940's Gothic style I love so much so I bought myself a copy in the larger size banding and a few metres of vintage feel black crepe. It's unusual for me to buy a new pattern as I draft my own patterns on the whole, but sometimes it's nice to get all that tissue out and simply get dressmaking.

Originally, I'd intended to edge the neckline and cuffs with antique lace but had to abandon that idea as I didn't have enough lace to hand. A plain dress, it would have to be.

I cut out the size 18, based on my measurements according to the finished measurements on the pattern but really could have sized down easily. I'm able to pull the dress on over my head without undoing the zip!

I'm finding using my Dressmakers Journal super helpful for planning my projects and find that the ideas that I doodle this way are the ones I really still want to make even if they're still nowhere near my sewing table yet. I have a lovely little notebook where I keep them and will be adding photo's of the finished garment and noting how many times I wear it. I thought this would be an interesting little experiment and I can feedback what I find in a video later in the year!

Now despite fit issues, I really love this dress and had made it longer at the time of sewing. I'm not entirely sure why now but I found I wasn't wearing this dress, even though I wanted to and realised it was because of the length. The thought of undoing all that ruffling and re~ doing it, filled me with mortification and I kept putting it off!

And then I had a eureka moment! Why not re hem the length using the denim cuff method? And it worked perfectly! Essentially what you do is fold out the amount you want to remove above the ruffle and pin in the original seam that joined the ruffle to the hem of the skirt. Then carefully sew along the original sewing line ~ you don't want to slip off this original stitching line if you can help it! Neaten the edge with pinking shears if you originally topstitched the seam or overlock if your fabric isn't too bulky.

I'm SOOOOOOO pleased with my dress now and have already started wearing it as a general everyday dress which was exactly what I wanted. Making things to not wear them is just as problematic as buying things and not wearing them.

Speaking of which, I spent a week doing Make Do & Mend Sewing and had a wonderful time working on simple projects, using up scraps and generally re Vamping tired clothes. I filmed a video about it all and I really feel I got a lot out of my week sewing in this way. It was a lovely little interlude between bigger projects which I'll now get on with.

You can watch all my Make Do & Mend Sewing adventures here! I have a lot to learn about sock darning however so experienced darners please forgive my shonky repair!

I hope you have a wonderful start to your week and keep safe and well. I know that, in difficult times, I find so much solace in simple stitching so you will find me with needle in hand. I hope you find comfort in such things too!

Tara x