Friday 18 April 2014

Sew For Victory 2.0 - My Plans

Well, I guess I should tell you all about my Sew For Victory 2.0 Plans.


I must confess this year I felt a little uninspired as what I should make, normally I have a vague inkling as to where I want to go with any of the challenges before I commit, though my plan often changes, but this time I was stumped. After seeing my brothers holiday snaps from China, I hit upon the idea of a 1940s Oriental style dress and when I caught sight of the Maria Dress by Trashy Diva it was love at first sight, and it instantly became my inspiration for this years SFV project!

Image Source: Pinup Girl Clothing Maria Dress
Isn't it wonderful! It's made from black rayon crepe fabric (and I've just spotted they also do a yellow one which is just as adorable) it has cap sleeves, a waist accentuating dirndl skirt, and the thing that captures me the most is the mandarin collar and oriental chrysanthemum embroidery on each side of the chest, which makes this dress so striking. 

Image Source: Pinup Girl Clothing Maria Dress
My dress is going to be very much inspired by rather than a copy, I am going to change the skirt to a more slimline one, and add my favorite 1940s design feature the peplum, to achieve this I am hoping to use Advance 4599 from my pattern collection, which I believe, though there is no exact date given, dates from about 1947 and I think captures the oriental style I am looking for perfectly.

I am going to attempt view 1 with a single peplum
I say I am hoping to as the eagle-eyed will have already noticed that the pattern is for a 30inch bust, and well mine is a good ten inches away from that measurement! So it will need some intensive resizing if I have any hope of making it work. My pattern is all traced, thanks to a few lunchtime crafting session and tonight after I hit publish on this post, I will attempt to alter it to fit my ample dimensions!

Model buses make quite good pattern weights!
All being well, I will head out tomorrow to buy my fabric, ideally the teenage goth in me is drawn to black crepe, which if I have time I will embroider on, but I've decided that I am going to go out with an open mind and see what I can turn up, so watch this space! I should say that I do have another pattern which if it all goes haywire I can fall back on (a pattern that only needs a few inches added, and is made up of only four pieces, plus a peplum so will be much simpler, I think) but I am optimistic, I have three whole days to work on it so, as usual it's fingers crossed!

Wendy x

4 comments:

  1. I love the idea! Good luck with resizing the pattern!

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  2. Sounds great, good luck! I've nearly finished my project, a few problems but I'm pleased I made it x

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  3. looks a lovely pattern, good luck!

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  4. What a fabulous dress - good luck with your sewing, I can't wait to see the finished item! P x

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