The Reproduction of a Vintage Dress, Part 2

The fabric I chose was a lovely brown linen that I had recently added to my stash with another project in mind. Since the linen seemed perfect for this project, I decided to use something else for my other project. I knew I should make a muslin to test my pattern, but I was feeling pretty confident, and I was a bit impatient to get going on my dress, so I just dove in, and cut my fabric. As I sewed the dress, I discovered a few adjustments that needed to be made to the pattern, but thankfully, nothing serious enough to ruin my first attempt! I’d never done scallops before, and the turned out a little rough…I’ll have to work on that. I think the buttons camouflaged the imperfections a bit. The original grey dress had fur pom-poms on the bow, and my brother informed me that they were mink. I called several local taxidermists to see if I could get some mink scraps, but to no avail. I ended up settling for muskrat, otherwise known as “poor man’s mink”. The self-covered belt was a bit of a challenge – I couldn’t find a kit, so I had to make it up on my own, but I think it turned out nice. All in all, I think my pattern-making project has been a success! The finished dress looks very vintage – in fact, I’m tempted to show it to a friend of mine, who’s an expert in vintage clothing, and see if he thinks it’s original!