This was one of the dresses I would have made this summer had I not been pregnant. Now I quickly am squeezing in a few cotton house dresses this fall yet, even though the weather has already turned. I do wear them year-round anyway, just layer with sweaters in the winter. At least the dark color is a bit more fall-appropriate.
This cotton is perfect for an everyday dress since it won't show stains or dirt easily, and is dark enough that I won't need to wear layers under it when it is hot. It's not a reproduction print, but works very well for a vintage style dress. I call it my confetti dress, since that's what the print reminds me of.
I've made this 1940s pattern before, and it is one of my most-worn everyday dresses. I reach for it constantly when it is clean and in my closet, so I decided it was time to make another version.
The print has many colors in it, so I originally wanted to keep the buttons navy so that I could accessorize with any of the colors. But all-navy buttons didn't look right with so much navy already in the dress, so I went with some pretty, textured, new-old-stock vintage shell buttons from my stash.
I also added some white lace trim to the sleeves to break up all the blue, but hoped that since white is such a generic color, I could still accessorize with pink, light blue, yellow, or red from the print. It does look nice with a white belt, and I always gravitate toward accessorizing blue with red, but for these pictures I did something different and paired it with light pink. I think that works too.
It was such a quick and simple dress that there's not much to say about it. The shoulder tucks are the only detail - everything else is pretty basic. I glanced at the instructions maybe 2 or 3 times while I was sewing, and made the whole thing from start to finish in less than 3 days.
Another time I must remember to lower the the waist a tad since it hits a little high. This version I also made a bit longer since my green one was on the short side.
Otherwise there's not much to say! It's a nice addition to my everyday wardrobe, and I'm glad to have this cotton off my shelf (where it's been waiting for a few years) and in my closet. It will get a ton of wear year round, I am certain!
