My 1940s Novelty Umbrella Dress

I wrote a little while ago about how tickled I was to see a picture of a vintage dress and realize that JoAnn carried a reproduction of the fabric.

The vintage dress which got me excited.

 

It was a lot more per yard than I could normally afford, but thanks to a 60% off coupon and some birthday money from my sweet husband, I was able to get 3 yards of it for a dress. It was so pretty in person!

The cheery red, blue, and green of the print I like even better than the pastel version of the vintage dress. It's a very happy fabric, and is interesting without being strange like some vintage novelty prints. Also, I love vintage umbrellas so it was a perfect match for me!

My fabric, cut out and ready to sew.

 

So with the fabric scored and on my shelf, I had to decide what to do with it. First a simple pattern, so the print would shine.

 

Inspired by the vintage dress, I went with a blue contrast for the collar and pockets - decorative pockets mostly since they won't hold very much!

 

The French blue contrast fabric was actually leftovers from a shower curtain I got at a thrift store and cut down to make napkins for my bridal table almost 2 years ago. Nothing like repurposing! :-)

 

I was very pleased with the fabric while making and wearing the dress. I usually purchase their Keepsake Calico line, which is more affordable, and that has worked well for some styles of dresses in the past (see my post on cottons for more details) - but this one, a Premium Cotton piece, is dense, smooth, and definitely feels like higher quality.

 

I did have some struggles at a few points with this project. This was my first attempt at a collar constructed like this one, and it was only half successful. Half because one side came out beautifully, and the other one definitely did not. But a brooch on the shoulder can cover up a multitude of flaws! :-)

 

My second issue was totally my own fault. I was in a hurry, trying to quickly set the 2nd sleeve before calling it a day. And I caught the sleeve in the serger, which sliced a nice hole into it before I realized what was happening. Thankfully I had just enough fabric left to cut out one more sleeve, but I was not happy with myself. It was a good illustration of something my mother would tell me when I was little - "The hurrier you go, the behinder you get!" 

 

The next snag I ran into was trying to choose buttons. I didn't have any blue ones the right shade, and wanted to go with something more interesting than white, so finally settled on red after digging and re-digging through my stash. I brought in the other dress colors with thread when I sewed the buttons on, and decided after some debate that I like the finished effect.

 

I paired it with my black and white Peggy pumps, and could not decide what color of hat to wear since there were so many colors already, so went with paper daisies in my hair instead.

 

And of course I had to use one of my vintage umbrellas as a photo prop! (Funny that we got a cloudy day to take these pictures - it actually looks like I need an umbrella!) 

 

This one has some fade marks on the fold, but it is just the right shade of blue to coordinate with the dress. The pagoda shape and little ruffles are so adorable. I have a matching green one that is in better shape which I used on my 1950s formal gown photos, but this is the first outing for the blue version.

I love the 2 tone handle!

 

Overall, I am very pleased with the dress. It is comfortable and cute. If I would do it over again, I'd fix the collar issue and tweak the fit a little (I know, I know...I should have done a mock-up first...), but I still like it a lot and enjoy wearing it. Only I had 2 lines of April Showers going through my head the ENTIRE day.

And though it's raining, have no regrets;

It isn't raining rain, you know, it's raining vi-o-lets...

 

After seeing some of the very strange and odd novelty prints that were popular in the 1940s, this one seems pretty tame. But it's unusual for me, so I still call it a novelty dress. Perfect for summertime picnics.

 

And hey, if it rains I certainly have enough umbrellas to go around! :-) 

 

Comments

[Debra]

Wow! Great use of a novelty fabric! Is this a vintage pattern or reprinted one that you used? Very cute dress. (Just in time for the 4th of July too.)