I am in a veritable tizzy waiting for this to come from Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns. My own fault for ordering something right before a holiday weekend, but hey, when you find a pattern like this, you pounce!
This may be my autumn go-to dress pattern, although I'm not nearly as willowy as the gals in this illustration. But notice, if you please, the high-necked, cut-on-the-fold front bodice, perfect for big prints, and the really cute buttoned back! There are even side-seam pockets, wonder of wonders (although I might also cut the skirt on the fold to eliminate that front seam).
There's plenty more where this came from at Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns … check out this one! Me, I'll just go back to watching the mailbox.
A Dress A Day 
If you eliminate the center front seam, the skirt may not hang right. From the sketch, it looks like the center front skirt seam is cut on the bias.
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Oh, you’re right. I may just swap out a 3/4 circle skirt instead, then …
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oh, you always have such cute patterns posted. I wish I could wear them, but without set in sleeves, those bodices would just make me look even more slopey shouldered than I already am. *sigh*
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Gaile, many of those vintage patterns assume shoulder pads (even ones without set-in sleeves). I run into problems because I REFUSE to wear shoulder pads but I also have scrawny, meatless shoulders, so the bodices always look too big. I need to practice my shoulder-alteration skills.What a nice, simple, cute dress. Sigh. I’ve got so many patterns along this same line stored up; I need to use them some time.
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Canine, you’re right … I never wear the shoulder pads, either. Sometimes I cheat and take in the shoulder seam about 3/8″ tapering out from the neck to the sleeve seam or hem, and that works okay!
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I loved the button detail in the back, but I look ridiculous in anything with that high of a neckline. The dress you link to at the end is way more my style. Sigh. Still no budget for patterns, alas.
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Erin, who is as willowy as the gals in this illustration? I made a sun dress with a similar skirt this summer, and the skirt was to be cut on the bias. I just refolded the fabric to keep the point where the seam was to be on the bias, and it hangs beautifully. I’ve actually just finished a second dress with this pattern, both with the center front seam eliminated, and it worked well.
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I confess to being puzzled by the 40-50’s obsession with the center-front seamed skirt. Was it an attempt to conserve fabric? Just a stylistic convention? I could understand it if, as marjie notes, each skirt panel is on the bias, but none of the patterns I own with the center-front seam are like that.
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I too prefer the other dress. I need the set in sleeves and some type of V in the front. I do like the BACK of this one. And Erin does have a point about the big print. Well, doesn’t really matter as just looking is almost as fun as buying.
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Thank you so very much – I went browsing on the site and found the perfect swing coat pattern!
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About the puzzling centre-front seams, Harthad, remember that standard fabric widths in the 1940s and 1950s were much narrower than today. If you look at the yardage requirements on those patterns, you’ll probably find widths like 35 or 39 inches. The extra seams are needed for piecing.
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Won’t those buttons in the back drive you crazy after awhile though? Or are you flexible enough to handle them?
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Hmm. I think I can do the buttons, but I guess we’ll find out. Might make the dress less packable; it’s not like I’d want to go to the front desk of the hotel and as the clerk to do up the back of my dress!
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I have this pattern! I got it this summer at a senior center rummage sale. I immediatly thought of you when I bought it.
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I have that white hat! It’s a Sally Victor lovely. Let me know if you finish the dress, you are welcomed to borrow it!
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Re: center front seams. Loren is quite right about 36-inch fabric widths available in the 40’s and 50’s. In addition, if you think of this as a 4-gore skirt, the grain line may go right down the center of each gore, which will affect the way the skirt drapes and hangs. It’s not that the skirt is cut on the bias, rather, the straight-of-grain line runs top to bottom down the center of each gore, thus making the edges of each gore bias edges (as opposed to having the straight-of-grain run down the center front seam line of the skirt). S-o-G in the center of each gore requires that each gore be cut as a separate piece. Cutting the skirt front as one piece on a fold wont give you the right grain line. Yes, it really does make a difference in the drape. Threads Magazine did an article a few years back where they cut the same skirt pieces (similar to this pattern) using different grain lines. Right down the center looks best (IMHO), but takes more fabric.This is the best illustration I can find (quickly) on the internet to show what I mean. http://patternsthatfityou.com/frskirtcl.htmCMC
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Well, you didn’t actually ASK for opinions but since you blogged it I’ll assume it’s OK to chip in. Necklines like that (high, close, tight) make me want to gag. I don’t even like looking at anyone wearing such a neckline. I love the one you link to at the end: absolutely adorable and allows for easy swallowing and pain-free neck tilting!
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I will weigh in on the neckline – love it! Having some burn scars on my chest means that I have always preferred a higher neckline, which is hard to find. I also would rather see that than way too much cleavage any day. I think though that it could be easily converted into a bateau neckline if one didn’t want the ‘too high’ neck.The added plus of no sleeve to set in is wonderful for fall, letting you don a cardigan if it got too cool.Great idea on being able to use the big prints for this!
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I got the pattern yesterday! The grainline runs parallel to the side seam, not the front seam … I’ll have to fiddle with the fabric to see if I can lay it out with the front seam on a bias fold and the grainline parallel to the side seam …
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Erin – unless the gore is a quarter circle ( or half a circle,), cutting the skirt this way will work only for one side seam, the other one will be off grain. It’s simply geometry, lass. Desiree
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Are those 3 buttons all that’s needed to get into and out of the dress? How’d she get her hips or her shoulders through that tiny waistline?
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I’m pretty sure there’s a side zipper, too.
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Ok…so how do you button the back up without help???? Expiring minds want to know!
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I’ll take a chance on being embarrassed if here is where I read this…here’s a great tip I read somewhere on side zips: insert them upside down, that is, so that when you zip it closed you are zipping it down, not up. It’s reportedly easier to zip and lies better on the body. (?) I made a note to try it, but I haven’t yet: love to hear from someone who has.I remember that Threads article, or one that they reprinted in one of their early books called Fit and Fabric. How a skirt hangs can vary dramatically depending on where the grain is. One of my classmates in a Fashion Design class made up some samples for a fit class and we preferred having the grain in the middle of a gore, as mentioned above.
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