22 thoughts on “How a New Dress Should Always Feel”

  1. I have a sheer dress pattern somewhat similar to this but I can’t for the life of me figure out what is underneath it. Is it a slip? Is it sewn into the dress as a lining? Is it both? The 1940s McCalls (#6937) pattern I have doesn’t even mention it and I soooooo want to make it for a friends wedding in July. Help!

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  3. Because she’s just been told that since her waist was finally tiny enough to fit into the dress that she can now start eating again, just in time her Easter. No ham for her, though – just one little egg!

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  4. It’s a time travel device of course! (refer to “A Tale of Time City” by Diana Wynne Jones).

    Also, is it just me or does the reflected woman appear to have a less extreme figure?

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  5. Stunning photograph.

    @Megan, it looks like a slip, with little straps. given the length and the specific heights you might want to match on the dress bodice over the top, you would probably need to either make one or at least doctor one so it was perfect. my mum has one she wears in a similar way and she put tiny buttons under the arms on the side seams just to hold the slip in place. If you did a slip you could always put some wide ribbon or something round the bottom to match it to the dress and make it look less like underwear.

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  6. I think it’s an underlayer attached at the upper side and front seams. Sewn in at the waist with the upper layer or organdy/organza. Notice the patch pocket made from the underlayer fabric–love it!

    Of course, the proper foundation garments are necessary to really have these clothes fit properly…….not everyone is wasp-waisted, but the undergarments certainly help the look!

    I love the flowers at her waist….see this dress in a lovely spring violet colour……..

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  10. @monkeysocks, I think a “clip on slip” may be the way to go. I have been on the hunt for just the right slip for a while and it’s maddening. Everything either looks 1980’s institutional nurse or a gaudy, lacy, lumpy, mess. I’d like a mint dead-stock vintage slip but I’d also like to win the lottery….
    Thanks ya’ll!

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  13. Oh, I think I will carry an egg around all the time now, if it means I can look like that.

    Re: the reflection, I think the reflection is from another photograph! Or else the main image has been altered. Check out her legs. In the reflection they’re apart and in the main image they are together (and seem an improbably posture given the tilt of her hips).

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  16. Even though she’s blinded by the transport ray from the Mother Ship, and left guarding the pod which will soon hatch and begin it’s take-over of the human race, it is a nice dress. Why do aliens alway have bad (or no) wardrobes?

    Regarding the reflection vs the model – I think the reason for the difference in leg position is she is walking, and the photo is taken at an angle to her and the window. Also it seems like the flowers hiding her waist fool us (me anyway) into thinking her waist is smaller than it really is. There also may be some distortion in the reflection due to the window. I’m not saying the photo isn’t doctored, but back then they didn’t have photoshop, so unless there was a major problem, I don’t *think* retouching photos was routinely done.

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  22. Since the style is from just after World War II, if the picture is British, rationing may have still been in place.

    Did she just score a black market egg?

    (Just been reading Jill Paton Walsh’s continuation of the Dorothy L Sayers mysteries.)

    Shouldn’t tell you, but I’ll never afford it anyway – Peterman carries this style.

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