Made for Christmas: 1950s Raspberry Gingham

I avoided the tempting novelty holiday prints this year to make a dress suitable for Christmas but not unseasonal to wear during the rest of the winter. 

 

I made it the week before Christmas and it came together quickly, and much as I had envisioned it when I mentioned it on my to-do list a few months ago (the 3rd or 4th completed project from that list already!) 

 

As usual, being the 2nd time I've made this dress meant it went together pretty rapidly since I knew what I was doing.

 

I used black velvet for the trim, and black faceted glass buttons actually from the 1950s add a bit of subtle sparkle. The only thing I altered from my original plan was also adding velvet bands to the sleeves.

 

The top stitched bias panels add such cute detail to an otherwise basic dress.

 

My one difficulty with this dress was the contrasting collar. My first version had a self collar from the facing, and when I looked at the pattern this timeI saw it had a facing piece and a collar piece. I thought, "Why not just use the facing piece in contrast and not bother with the added collar?" Well, I found out. The way it twists to become collar at the top of the buttons made it extremely difficult to look right with the heavy velvet. I ended up taking a pinch out of the underside and sewing a long horizontal dart, but even still it rolls back a bit and shows the gingham underside and doesn't lay right above the buttons. I gave up after a lot of fiddling with it and decided it was passable. It would have been a lot easier to do the facing in gingham and add the separate collar piece on top! I suppose I should stop thinking I know better than the pattern instructions. :-)

 

I love the rayon, and when I realized that my first dress of 2017 and my last were made from the same fabric, I was tickled at the perfect bookends they made to my year of sewing projects. (2017 recap hopefully coming soon!)

These photos were taken the day before Christmas when we had little snow and it was quite gray and chilly out, so they were a bit hurried. However, that night (Christmas Eve) we got a few more inches so our Christmas was whiter than it shows here!

 

I paired it with long black 1950s gloves and my favorite black vintage heels. Item to Note: vintage shoes have leather soles, and leather soles are very slick in the snow!

 

Also a lovely vintage wreath brooch in non-traditional colors I picked up at an antique store a few years ago and just love. I added it to make me look a bit more festive and holiday-ish since my dress is more generic.

 

The project I was most excited about, however, was the hat. When I saw Va Va Voom's halo hat tutorial a while ago I just knew I had to make some for myself, especially since this shape of hat is one I consider wearable and flattering for myself. I bought some wool felt and whipped this one up in a very short time one evening and was so happy with how it turned out - now I can make my own in any color needed to round out my hat collection! 

 

I trimmed it with a vintage veil from my collection and some sprays of white berries found at the craft store years ago and squirreled away until now. They were originally a small wreath, which I unwrapped to use the sprigs separately. Unfortunately they are styrofoam and thus not very good quality, but they look pretty nice and accurate as long as you don't touch them. I pinned them on so I can remove them and put other trimmings on at any time - I have a nice feather spray that would look good on it as well.

 

Now I need to make a gray halo hat, and a navy halo hat, and a red halo hat...

 

My biggest problem with the dress is that I accidentally made it a bit too small to be completely comfortable. Ah well - another incentive to lose those remaining baby pounds! (And the added holiday pounds...;-)

 

So there it is - this year's Christmas dress! I'm quite pleased (and surprised) at the amount of sewing I've accomplish lately and have a few new projects planned, but first a sewing hiatus is in order so I can work on some other projects including diminishing my out of control mending-and-alterations pile!

 

Comments

[Irene]

Hi Kristen , another pretty dress! Yes, good idea about that print, you can wear it all winter long. Looks very comfortable too. The hat is adorable , as the 40's is my favorite decade of fashion. I'm sure the baby pounds will come off soon enough. Took me two months with my first son and six months with my second son, to go back to my original size, but my feet did get a little wider-permanently- unfortunately. I was wondering are those photos taken by your home? It looks like your in the middle of nowhere. Your neighbors must be far? I live in on the east coast so iam not used to seing all of that undeveloped land-looks so lovely and peaceful. All of your outfits are so pretty! You must get complimented quite often!
Blessings
Irene

[Kristen Stoltzfus Clay]

Thank you, Irene!

The photos are taken on my parents' ranch, which is about an hour away from where I live. It's not quite in the middle of nowhere - they are only 10 minutes from the highway, and there are neighbors visible in several directions. I'm from the east too, and never get tired of the wide open spaces out here! :-)

[Dee]

Love this dress! Great job on the hat...you fooled me because I thought it was vintage. LOL I do have that hat on my project list.

Very happy, healthy New Year to you & your family,
Dee

[Cindy Wilson]

Kristen;
Your style is always so beautiful, I love the dresses and detail. I am curious what you wear for everyday in the winter; in your house, with only one wood stove. I don't see anything warm and practical for cleaning and cooking. Just curious. Cindy

[Kristen Stoltzfus Clay]

Hi Cindy,

I wear a lot of sweater tops and skirts in the winter, like this one: http://verityvintagestudio.typepad.com/my-blog/2016/09/why-i-love-thrift-stores-the-houndstooth-sweater-blouse.html

I get hot easily when I am working so even in the winter I often wear short sleeves with a sweater over top so I can take off the sweater if I get too warm. Any of my vintage pattern sewn house dresses featured on the blog I usually layer that way in cooler weather. And I do find house dresses, while dressier than what most women wear today to work in, are quite practical for cleaning and cooking - especially with an apron.

However, I do often dress only vintage-inspired for everyday, with a mix of modern-made thrifted pieces (usually with vintage sensibilities) and me-made pieces, and save this type of dress, along with hat and makeup, for going to church or other dressy outings.

~Kristen