Rita sent me a link to this pattern, saying she thought I'd like it … which I do. A great deal. I'd like it even more if it were MY SIZE, but you can't have everything. (Unless YOU are a B40, in which case, today, yes, you can have everything. Don't worry, I'm sure it will be my turn to have everything again sometime next week.)
I love the high roll on the collar, and of course the stripey inset yoke, and double-of-course the pockets. I like how the woman in the green dress seems to be sizing you up for membership in their Advance 5112 Dress Club. Membership obviously also includes that softly-waved bob, a hairstyle I have coveted for years and have finally determined is an illustrator's fiction, like the Gibson Girl knot.
As so rarely happens, I think I would make the green version as-is; it's a perfect Christmas Peppermints dress. (This would also be the perfect dress if I were the costumer of a 1940s screwball romance between two of Santa's elves at Gimbel's, right? The guy would have to be in green velvet knickers, which is a terrible impediment to romance but an accelerator of screwballitude, for sure.)
On a more sophisticated note, this dress would be lovely in a fine black faille with a gray organza yoke and collar …
Oh, and if you're reading this late in the afternoon, I have a small bonus for you — Jen at MOMSPatterns is having a sale! She says: "From now until midnight EST Monday, September 29, 2008, save 25% at www.momspatterns.com on ANY sized order! There's vintage patterns, Halloween costume patterns, Barbie patterns, new old stock Vogues and a TON more … simply use coupon code 'momsweekender' to save BIG!"
[And once more I promise pictures of myself from last week and don't deliver. Tune in tomorrow for another episode of "Erin forgot to unload the camera theater!"]
A Dress A Day 
I don’t know about the soft bob there, but the gibson girl knot is totally possible (and better looking than the one in that link). I created them nightly for a play I did the hair and makeup for. The missing step in that “how to” is the torus of fake hair that needs to be pinned around first. If you’re interested, send me a message and I’ll describe more fully. It’s really quite easy.
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The green one is gorgeous. Although I would do the sleeves the same as the yoke, for a pinafore effect.
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Black faille with a grey organza collar and yoke would look totally modern! I’ve seen that trend in stores!
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I wonder if the under collar is two pieces to help support the high roll? That’s going to take some firm, but not stiff, interfacing to get it to roll just right. I’d probably use a woven sew-in instead of a fusible. I’d also experiment with cutting the upper collar on the bias. Love it!Jody
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thanks for the tip! I ordered 3 patterns!
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It’s true — I used to do a Gibson Girl knot with my own hair, back before I went from Earth Mother to Joan of Arc. Part of the trick is to bend forward at the waist as you gather the hair into a high knot. Then, when you stand up, the hair makes that pouffy business.
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The collar on my newly-sewn Simplicity raglan-style top does that curl too.
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Great dress! Loving that yoke. The news about the Gibson knot has arrived just too late for me – my hair is getting the chop today. But I’m hoping Heels blogs on it anyway (if you haven’t already) for future reference.
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Oooh. Lovely. And I love the gray organza idea.
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Love that pattern! I want! I want!
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It’s a lovely pattern and I could _almost_ use it. It’s 3 inches too smal in the bust area but the waist and hips are right.
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You have to have the right hair. I used to work for a woman whose hair did the waved bob all on its own. She had natural “finger waves” and could just roll out of bed looking like a 1930’s movie star. I was insanely jealous Insanely.I love that green version. I confess to being somebody who loves red and green together all year ’round. Especially a good deep red and a good vintage green like those. I am not a B40, either, but I love the concept.
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I do like this pattern. Sadly, being a Woman of No Small Bust AND a of No Small Chin, I feel like I’d look like- distinctly unflattered.BUT in grey organza, it would remind me of Maria As Novice in the Sound of Music (maybe cause of the hair?).And as for soft bobs, I think that lady must spend a good deal of the time in the hairdressers being assaulted with setting solution, and has to stay in all afternoon with her hair in rollers or wave clips before Mr. Smith comes from the library to pick her up for a date (to the Literary Society Display of the manuscripts of Leaves of Grass, since we’re fantasizing!).
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FINALLY the *first* surviving vintage pattern in my size! I’d thought that people of the ’40s and ’50s were all so tiny (most patterns I’ve see were for that microscopic 26″ waist that I haven’t seen on me since I was 10). This gives me new hope that I may not always have to draft patterns I like from scratch or try to upsize existing one. Yey. I would definitely make the Green version (but not with the red stripey bits – I’d find a different contrast fabric).
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Agreed that a soft bob is a genetics thing, not a styling thing – it depends on having the kind of slightly wavy hair that stays where it’s put. If I put a bobby pin in my hair when I wash it I will still have the indentation two days later, so soft bobs happen to me all the time. My theory is that stay-put hair is the result of a damaged cuticle a lot like what you get from using a straightening iron every day, though, so all hope is not lost – your hair might do it if sufficiently fried!
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I think I detect multiple opportunities for rick rack on this dress, in a cowgirl (cow-woman) yolk kinda way.Ivy’s right about the Gibson girl pouf–bend over!
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Another truly wonderful dress, though the high collar is completely unsuitable for my short, thick neck.That Gibson Girl knot may, possibly, work on a woman with not too much hair that has exactly the right texture and who cuts it just past shoulder length.But if you have truly long hair (mine is past my waist and I think of shoulder-length as short hair), and you have so much hair that you can’t see your scalp when you part it, and your hair is straight and slippery in texture its absolutely impossible for any hairpin known to womankind — not even those big, plastic ones — to secure the hair in position unless its twisted TIGHT and wound FIRMLY. And that creates a different style entirely.A loose hold that has any weight on it at all will slip and sag off to one side or down the back.
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use organdy or similar scraps for collar interfacing. The hairdo is for hair with some natural texture and body. I have a soft bob no matter what hair style it starts off with. My mom had the other look, bend over swoop the hair up, twist and pin at the same time. Thin or super straight hair requires a “rat” as a filler.
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I’ve been wanting to try the Gibson Girl Knot for ages (as a devout fan of Anne of Green Gables) but my hair is only just getting long enough. There are some very good instructions at “In Timely Fashion” both for doing on yourself (http://intimelyfashion.com/hair/gibson2.htm) and for doing it on someone else with the aid of hair rats which heels mentioned above(http://intimelyfashion.com/hair/gibson1.htm). There are even suggestions on how to make slick smooth hair more manageable.That would be the cutest possible dress at a Christmas party but it would make me crave peppermints and candy canes.
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Love this dress–the green! Faille is so fabulous, I cant imagine it not working beautifully for this pattern. Thanks for sharing, Rita Erin!
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From the picture I can determine that the pattern has both a yoke and two sets of darts, which surely bodes well for bust adjustment opportunities. I love both versions, but in my mind I see it in dark blue, with a Plaid yoke and trim. Of course Katharine Hepburn is the girl elf in the movie and Cary Grant her elf suprvisor, right?
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I just really loved it and one of the things that appeals to me is the tucks on the red stripe one. Both the yoke and a patch on the pocket is tucked…..and I’m a sucker for stripes and tucks, and all together with the bias skirt…..I just find it irresistible…..but alas……I don’t have a 40 inch bust, can’t sew anymore and have absolutely NOWHERE to wear a dress…………so some other happy camper is welcome to it.Rita
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I see Jennifer Jones in the green version, in Since You Went Away. And I would not recommend the strangely spinsterish Gibson Girl topknot for anyone but plump, curvaceous girls with fabulous skin and little rosebud mouths. I did find an easy Chignon/Twist variation from a 1976 Women’s Day of my mom’s, modeled by a pre-Earthquake Susan Blakely. I will try to scan and create a link. It should take care of anyone’s updo needs. Anytime, anywhere.
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I agree with the others who say the Gibson Girl hairdo is real. I used to have a roomate who had hair just like those women in the pre-Raphelite paintings, and she could do a Gibson ‘do without any special accessories other than some large sturdy plastic hairpins.
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That is a story that NEEDS to be told! Definitely going on the “to write” list.
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It has already been said, but the Gibson knot is doable. (Not for me anymore, because my knee length hair is overkill… I end up with a tightly pulled back Giant cinnabun.)The bob, well that I dont know about. I am envious of the hearsay woman [mentioned above] with the ability to wake up with perfect 30s hair though!
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