Jazz Era Evening Dress - Style 2488

One of my pre-blog makes:

Style 2488 (OOP)

I already wrote about my love of early 1900-era fashion as seen in productions like House of Elliot and Wings of the Dove, particularly the draped and luxurious fashions from 1917 to 1920. In 1994, I was lucky to find this pattern produced by Style patterns*. With a skirt shape that is broad and gathered at the hip and narrow at the hem it is almost a perfect match, the only difference is the higher waist.

  

1917 to 1919 fashion images

I made this dress from bronze velour and it became my go-to frock for company holiday parties. Worn with my chocolate brown ankle strap suede heels, a topaz and gold jewelry set, and topped with my chocolate brown Issey Miyake coat, it was the complete package!

The Style pattern is also closely related to the Folkwear Edwardian Afternoon Tea Dress #265 pattern. Here are its front and back views which are almost the same as Style 2488 except that their drape is lower on the body and is instead attached at the empire waist on mine.


Unfortunately, when trying on the dress for these pictures I realized the back vent was torn at the bottom and I could barely take a step in it. I'm sure it was difficult to walk in before (see ripped vent) but I also think that my hips being 5.5 inches larger has a lot to do with it. I am amazed that I could even get it on since I made the dress in size 10 in the 1990s and now according to the pattern measurements would have to make it in a size 16. That's a difference of three sizes, I must have been swimming in this!

I wish I could get a full-length picture but my photos are limited by the size of my photography studio, aka bedroom and how far away I can get the tripod and still see the backdrop unhindered.


* Style patterns, a division of the Simplicity Pattern Company that went out of business in the late 1990s.

Illustrations: Good Housekeeping issues from 1917-19

I Had Liberty Once Dress - Style 2225 (OOP)

See!

This picture was taken in the early 1990's when I was still in college (the first time). How I was able to afford this fabric, I really don't remember. I think it took three yards, so it must have been on sale. But I do remember that I bought it at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, Maryland. I hope one day to find that I still have a scrap of this left somewhere. This fabric was so gorgeous. It was a floral with white flowers outlined in black on a true red ground. I have searched the Liberty of London site and I thought it was no longer manufactured. **If anyone knows of a great resource to track down old Liberty prints, please let me know! I would love to know the name of this one and when it was designed.

I did find one similar, called Capel at Shaukat, the British seller of Liberty fabrics (they also carry Liberty oilcloth!) I believe my print was more densely populated with flowers, but then, this could just be a bad shot of the fabric.

Update: I found another picture of Capel and I think it actually is the same one!

I used Style 2225 (OOP), View 2 for this dress. It turned out wonderful, a real twirly, girly dress. I remember how crisp and light the fabric was and wearing it while riding my bike to class. I even made tiny covered buttons for it. Of course you can't see them in this picture, but you can see on the pattern front that they went down the center front from neckline to hem.

Style 2225 (OOP)

Unfortunately, my waistline eventually expanded and I could no longer wear this dress. I wish I had had the foresight to keep it as the skirt was full enough and the sash long and wide enough to make a blouse. However, this was before I embraced the concept of refashioning. For me, I made an item, usually only once and then let it go. I was so prolific with my sewing then that the items were not as precious as their memories are now.

Back to the Past

A while ago, I wore two dresses that were bordering on being discarded. One I thought wouldn't look good after the my "year of wasting away" but it seems I've recovered enough that it's going to stay in rotation. Another I thought just wasn't really my style anymore. But what style was I talking about? My before 1996 style or the after 1996 style, in other words, before corporate job or after? Good question.

I wrote about this before here, but here's a little more. In high school and college I was a pretty unique dresser. I only wore trends the way I wanted to, if I did wear any trends. I was extremely lucky as a kid that my mother was talented and could make all the Designer Vogue patterns I asked her to make, which culminated in me making my own Issey Miyake coat during my last year in high school (see below.)

However, after college and once I moved to Northern VA for a job, I stopped sewing as much. It didn't seem as if I had enough time anymore. I also started to feel I couldn't wear as much thrift store items as I did in college, that I needed to "step it up a notch." So I started to buy more clothing and because affordable clothing back then tended to be more mass market, my style seemed to fade into the background. Lately, at least since I've been back in school I feel a desire to dress more in the way I used to. More vintage-inspired, more experimental.

So for inspiration, I've been looking back at pictures of those days in college. Sadly, there are so many wonderful outfits I remember that I have NO records of. In truth, I was having so much fun taking pictures of other people that asking someone to photograph me rarely happened. But here are a few that I do have. Bear with me, some are embarrassing, like this first one.

This is me as a college freshman, believe it or not. Apparently, I was very impressed by Donna Karan's collections for Anne Klein at the time, and made this when I was still in high school. not typical college wear, right?

Dancing in vintage at a rockabilly show. I SO wish I still had this dress, the lace was set with almost-matte iridescent sequins.

New Year's (with Zion*) in vintage brown netting over gorgeous burgundy satin. This dress was way too big in the bust, I had it safety pinned closer to my body in this picture. I ended up giving it to my 5'9" roommate years later.

Style 2225

Yup, I had Liberty fabric before I even knew of it's reputation, I just loved how it felt. For this dress (a lost Style pattern Style 2225!), I even made covered buttons. The fabric was bought at G-Street Fabrics in Maryland. I loved this dress so much it hurt when the corset-like waist no longer fit me.

One of my many black dresses, this one I got in a clothing exchange with a friend, along with the velvet vest. I'm almost sure I'm wearing boots and black socks with this, or Mary Jane's.

An atypical outfit for me (I was no skater chick!), but a practical one for a Virginia winter when your main source of transportation is your bike! Check it out: boots, socks, ribbed tights, bike shorts under fleece shorts, knit hoodie, turtleneck, and all worn with a regulation black wool Pea Coat.

A red polyester shirtdress with an embossed floral print on it. The bodice buttoned and a hook and eye seccured the waist of the skirt which was attached to a red scratchy tulle petticoat. If you look close, you can see that the sleeves have turned-back cuffs with pairs of red buttons as cuff links. That's an old mens belt around my waist and the coolest little party purse that I wish I still had. The straps ended up falling off, something I could probably fix now. However, at the time, I just threw it away.

*that dog (my roommate's) shadowed me the entire time I had Mono and therefore, started my love of dogs.

"I Already Made This One" Dress - Style 2318 (OOP)

Practically. Sorta.

Over 10 years ago I made a brown wool crepe dress from a Style pattern that I truly wish I hadn't thrown out. UPDATE: Found it! It was Style 2318, c. 1994. It was lovely and I did a great job with it. Unfortunately, it just looked ridiculous on. When I made the dress I really miscalculated on the size and I was swimming in the dress. One thing about the design that didn't help at all was that it required huge shoulder pads. Imagine this; huge linebacker shoulders and then a sack (a heavy wool sack!) of a dress swimming on a tiny girl. However, because I loved the design, that dress has been with me ever since, though it was only worn once or twice. Today, I decided to try it and a few of my old vintage pieces on. While none of the ones I actually used to wear could even be zipped up (or get past my hips), this one FITS!!! Yes, and it fits like it was always supposed to. Amazing.

Fifteen pounds heavier and with bust, waist, and hip measurements all three inches larger...it fits. See for yourself:

Forgive me, the dress had not been pressed in 10 years either!

I had no idea when I put that Simplicity pattern above in my wish list that it was really because I was remembering details from this dress. Notice the interest at the neckline (with a pull-through tie) and the dolman sleeves (actually called magyar sleeves) that became tighter towards the wrists.



 Style 2318 (OOP)

Also, can you believe I made this in high school? To wear to high school? Yeah, I was a strange duck.