Fruity Summer Dress

Dates are in descending order.

23 August 2006:

After doing a lot of research on the 1930's, 1940's, rationing during the 1940's, and general frugality, I have decided to take some of my old clothes and change them into new ones. Things that suit me better, fit me better, and just look nicer. This fruit dress is my first attempt at this.

Here is a picture of the original dress and a close up of the fabric and one of the buttons.

I unpicked the dress completely about a week or two ago and put the cute little strawberry buttons to the side for later use (either on this dress, an accessory, or for some other project). Since I also want to try my hand at making items without premade patterns, I decided to wing this project. I am taking the pieces I just unpicked and reshaping them to change the form of the dress.

What does this have to do with the research I mentioned? During the 1930's, there were many families that could not afford new clothes, so they remade or mended their clothes as often as they could. In the 1940's, fabric was rationed. It got to the point that you could really only get a couple items per year. So what you had, you had to make last. But it didn't end there. One way people showed support to their troops was to look their best. So looking threadbare was not an option. Dresses were cut down to make several clothing pieces. Men's suits were taken apart and reformed into tailor dress suits for women. Really, this sort of thing is very interesting and something I would recommend to many seamstresses and tailors. Frugality uses a lot of the concepts from these two time periods. "Make do and mend." "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." These were the mottos of the time, and still very applicable today.

Last week, I took the pieces and laid them out on my sewing doll. This week, I will put together a duct tape dummy to get a better idea of how I want the pieces to lay. For now, I have the basic concept of how the dress will be. SO far, it's darling.

Below is a picture of the dress pieces on the sewing doll.

The key difference is the form fitted nature of the dress. I originally bought the dress at a thrift store. It was too big on me, especially the arm holes, but worked great when worn over a shirt and large baggy jeans. I'd only button up the torso and leave the rest open, sometimes tying the bottom corners into knots so it would hand open. I got a lot of compliments on it, but I really wanted to be able to wear it as a dress, alone. Not over something else. The buttons were also a problem in that there was severe wear on some of the button holes and damage where the buttons were attached. These were not too noticeable unless someone took the time to look (which not many did).

The picture doesn't reflect the detailing thus far. The top is short and will be loose. The torso of the dress will start midway on the rib cage, a little below the breasts. The skirt and the torso are not separated. The fitting at the torso is from pleating that will give way to a full skirt (which gains its fullness from being left unpleated). I'm not sure if I will add a collar or little sleeve caps to the dress. I'm also not sure if I'll use the buttons on the dress or on an accessory.

I hope, with the remaining material, to make a very short jacket or shrug to wear with the dress, for those times I don't want to go sleeveless. If there's not enough material for that, I will likely make the scraps into a headband of some sort or use as lining in a purse/bag.

I'm hoping to have the main dress finished this week or next.

If you see something you like or have any questions,
you may contact me via email at yulandria@yahoo.com