This dress is actually made of awesome, is it not? It's from Jen, at MOMSPatterns — you know Jen, her ad's right there on the right (your right, my left, as I face you through the computer).
If this weren't a B32, you'd never see it here, as I would be jealously guarding the auction like some kind of medieval guardy thing, waiting for my bid to go through at the very last second. But since it's on the small side, I'm happy to share it with you. Go! And if you win it, make it IMMEDIATELY, and send me a picture, please.
Of course, if you're not on the small side, Jen has something for you too — in fact, she's running a special sale! MOMSPatterns is having a Weekend Spring Cleaning Sale and A Dress A Day readers get 1st dibs on more than 1,000 vintage sewing patterns …
The sale starts today [Thursday] and ENDS at midnight Sunday, April 29, 2007. Use coupon code 'springcleaning30' to save 30% off of ANY sized order. Don't forget that Jen ships for free to the US & Canada with the purchase of 5 or more patterns …
That panel-ly thing on the side of the skirt, up there? Actually BUTTONS ON. For extra swoosh. Man, I wish this was in my size!
A Dress A Day 
Woman’s Day was an A&P magazine?Her shoes look painful!
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Wow!
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Since becoming a stay at home/work at home Mom, I have pretty much completely stopped wearing dresses. Reading your blog, though, has started to convince me that I might need to rethink the dress thing. Especially when I see pieces like this. Good thing it’s too small for me, too.
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Love this! I am having two simultaneous thoughts: 1- it’s a pity that my sewing has not yet adventured beyond historic reproductions; 2- hmm, I could size that up!Gah. So pretty.
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Anonymous said… Woman’s Day was an A&P magazine?Yes. Woman’s Day started out in life as a supermarket giveaway.
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erin, I have a doofy question. I am not a dressmaker, but i’d love to try it.how hard is it to size up patterns? i.e. if this won’t fit you, can you just enlarge the patterns? or is that going to screw up the proportions because a 32 is not the same as a 38? (given that i’m a taller girl with shoulders to match, i love vintage but often cannot find anything that fits.)
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This is SPECTACULAR! I’ve become addicted to your site, thanks for the daily dress-porn! š
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pargolo–I am a pro and it is possible to alter patterns up in size to fit. It’s not something that should be done for a first time project, as it reqires an understanding of grainlines, matchpoints squaring and truing pattern lines. The term for this is “grading” and a google search finds many helpful articles about grading. The sewing magazine Threads had an article a few years ago (can’t recall the issue number) on how to grade a pattern by cutting it apart and re-arranging the pieces on a grid. I had a lovely thirties era dress that was too small, I traced the pattern and tried the method and it worked well. I would never cut apart an old pattern! I understand the vintage dillema, I’m tall and broad shouldered, too. A good book on fitting, such as the vogue sewing book; will have information on fitting the broad shoulder and once mastered it’s quite easy.
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Hey! Don’t be disuaded when an awesome pattern such as this Woman’s Day pattern is not your size. A new division of graded vintage patterns is up, running and expanding every month at EvaDress.com!
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Shades of Joan Crawford! What a dress!
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Thats gorgeous…..would that I could sew (I have a machine, but its still in the box after, oh, 2 years). As for wearing a dress as a stay at home Mom, when I worked solely online, I wore cute 30s & 40s housedresses all the time! Comfy, cute, have pockets for errant toddler hair ties and zanax (hahahaha)…..love them! Ang
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This dress is my favorite so far. Won’t fit me either.
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As for wearing a dress as a stay at home Mom, when I worked solely online, I wore cute 30s & 40s housedresses all the time! Comfy, cute, have pockets for errant toddler hair ties and zanax Ditto. When The Boy was younger and I was smaller vintage housedresses were my favorite way to dress.
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I think, actually, that this is the same lady in the dress with the shoulder straps from that 1930’s pattern. She’s obviously reached a certain age but hasn’t settled down one bit.
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wow. I opened my browser, and there was this dress and I said, literally said out loud, “oh my god, I want that dress.” it’s a good thing my roomate’s out at the moment or there might have been an akward exchange. annoingly I am not that size either, but I shall figure out this dress, it is amazing!
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I nearly flipped my wig-hat when I saw that dress! Wowee!
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Well drat, I can’t remember my blog login.. it’s ME, Jen! Thank you for posting this, Erin, and I’m so glad it’s found an adoring audience!Regarding resizing, here’s a link that might help you all:http://www.sensibility.com/pattern/resizepattern.htm Jenwww.momspatterns.comCome shopping!
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On the subject of resizing, I’ve had pretty good luck with the methods described in Nancy Zieman’s “Fitting Finesse.” Probably wouldn’t work for everything, but it’s a nicely simple technique.
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For the novice sewers: Don’t forget that B32 is actually your chest measurement (around upper chest, above breasts). Cup size must be accommodated with dart adjustments. I have a 38″ bust, but make a 34B pattern and do a full-bust adjustment for larger cup size.
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Holy hot. That dress defies description. The model’s pose is perfect. You just know she’s hiding a cigarette behind her back.
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Wowza, what a dress! Leaving aside the issue of size, I wish I had the attitude to wear a dress like that! Then again, sometimes a dress like that wears YOU, and you can borrow attitude from it…
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Wow!(thought not said because I’m speachless).:-)~Amelia
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Erin’s old prom date here – just thought I’d check by the site, which is pretty fun and apparently blessed with good visitors.Sakes alive… seeing the dress above, I’m trying to think which would be more traumatic:1. Seeing a traincar full of men stumble over themselves to talk this woman up, or2. The mad dash to get out of the way had she been wearing tennis shoes.Sorry ladies, but… like the way a great building meets the ground, a dress this striking requires shoes like this.(and it only makes it that much tougher to find a guy that looks good on her arm…)
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I also stay-at-home and have not worn a dress since becoming a mom (okay, just once, to a friend’s wedding). Skirts, yeah, all the time, especially in summer. But have yet to find a dress that is nursing-accessible that I like or would actually wear. We need more choices than the fugly elizabeth lee patterns!!
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I love it too! I’m wondering what makes the collar stand up like that?
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I think I have those shoes!!!! Ha! Can’t one take the pattern and alter the size to accomodate? I have never tried it… but heard it could be done! Fabulous.
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Check out Simplicity Pattern 3748 from the retro collection. Very similar to this dress. š
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ddt2bM Nice Article.
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Wonderful blog.
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