When I made my 1940s anchor dress a while back, I thought it was one of the better patterns I've tried that would work for maternity, yet be something I could wear at other times too. So I went ahead and made another, dressier version.
I used some adorable Wilmington 1930s reproduction cotton, which I liked so much I got two lengths of - one to make now in a maternity-suitable style, and one to make later, with buttons down the front. It's a fun, cheery print with what looks like little clusters of balloons scattered across is. Hence I call it my balloon dress.
I expected this to be super easy and quick since it was the second make, but not so. For the first version, I found the sleeves were too short and large-holed for my taste, so I gathered them into a cuff. That worked well enough, but since I already knew the problem, I decided to fix it at the start this time by cutting out the sleeves to be longer and narrower.
Well, I didn't think it through well enough before snipping into the fabric. As a result, the first time I tried on the dress, the sleeves were impossibly tight. I could hardly move my arms. I tried inserting gussets (my first time with gussets!) to widen the arm openings, and that helped a lot - but still not enough. They were too tight to really be comfortable - but worse, any pulling on the underarms distorted the neckline.
I knew I would not be happy with the dress if I just made it do, so back it went to the floor where I laid a bodice piece from another pattern on top to get the armhole right, and just cut out the sleeve part, leaving an arm hole like a normal bodice. I had just enough fabric left to cut out these small sleeves from another pattern.
This time there was success! And now it looks a little more different than the denim version as well, so that worked out in the end. But I know for next time to not cut in haste!
I considered doing contrasting ties, but couldn't decide on the right color of contrast, or even if it would look right. So I did another new thing - used piping for the first time to outline the ties. It's not quite the right color of blue, but I was using from my stash and it was the only option.
The piping worked like a dream, despite me having to use my regular zipper foot. I looked up some instructions online first, and found that I got perfect results even with a regular foot by basting the piping on first as close as I could sew to the cord, then when sewing the 2 layers together, being able to see where the basting lines were and sew just on the other side of them for a nice, close seam.
Since then I've been wanting to try piping everywhere, and need to search thrift stores to find more!
The piping outlines the ties very nicely so they don't get lost in the print, and also gives the corners more body so that the little knot in the front keeps its shape.
Everything else was quick and easy - a narrow top-stitched hem finishes the bottom, and like the first version it slips over the head (again I shortened the bias band and gathered more of the dress into it to make the neckline higher) and has no closures, so it really is a quick and easy dress. Minus the sleeve fiasco.
It won't get much more wear, since I only have 7 weeks to go and can't nurse in it, so I will soon have to put it away for later. But it's a fun, colorful summer dress to wear in the meantime!
These are all just darling! Where do you find all the beautiful patterns? I am about to start trying for a baby but have been worried about continuing on my love of vintage through pregnancy. Any resources would be super helpful! You are absolutely glowing.
Posted by: Laura H | 07/11/2019 at 11:38 PM
A lot of these I already had in my large vintage pattern collection, and after studying the sketches thought they might work for maternity because of their construction. I found most of my patterns on eBay - sometimes I would get a large lot, keep the ones I wanted, and sell the rest. Or I might pay more for a particular single pattern that I really wanted. I've gotten a few on Etsy, at antique stores, and other places, but eBay was where I got the vast majority.
Posted by: Kristen Stoltzfus Clay | 07/12/2019 at 07:56 AM