School's Out

 Semi-Mad Men inspired dress: I picked Joan because of her shape and I like her style. I do have to admit at this point that I have only watched one episode of Mad men that that was about 3 years ago! Anyway, I like blue, it suits me and it's easy to wear, so inspiration No.1 on the left. The neck line on the right is just darn sexy, so inspiration No.2. Although this is not my design or pattern - it's Vogue 1121 - it fit the bill perfectly for a classic, navy dress. Made in wool crepe, it will carry me through spring, early summer, autumn and even a mild winter.










If you have been following the progress of this garment you will know about my reticence about the gym slip look, but I can now reveal that the gym slip has been kept behind a year in school whereas this dress is ready to go out to the big bad world of work with martinis afterwards.








I lengthened the dress by 7" in the end and is hemmed just below the knee - this is the only design alteration I made. The back has two kick pleats that allow for easily running up stairs and playing hockey.

From the side, the sway back adjustment worked a treat, but you can see I'm still not happy being photographed from this angle.

From the back, I still have a waist and the lapped zipped (that you can't see here) is discrete and in keeping with the 1960s styling.










Here's a close up of those details that aren't easy to see in the above images.

 The unusual neckline has an insert that is actually sewn to the lining and is caught at the side seams of the neck. This was tricky to sew and I ended up hand stitching the sides in place.

When I attached the lining and the side neckline was reduced by 1.5mm (5/8") on either side and my bra strap shows - so either new bra or sew little ribbons on the inside to hold the strap out of the way.

Back kick pleats allow for easy of movement and sitting without hearing the sounds of stitching ripping.

The lapped zip in the centre back- if you look closely you can see that I can almost sew a straight line.

















My attempt at a Joan pout and pose  - must keep practising that.

You can check out the stages of this dress here-
1. The start and initial worries
2. Sway back (big bum) adjustment
3. Lapped zipper



Finally, couldn't resist........

Thanks for reading. Ruth