A Vintage Recreation for Jodie

I was contacted by Jodie waaaaaaaay back in January.  She wanted a custom dress to wear to the Cooly Rocks On festival in Coolangatta that runs from the 30th of May to the 2nd of June this year (and around abouts the same time every other year).  Of course I said I would love to make her a dress, and we started chatting from there.

Jodie wanted a dress with a full circle skirt, a sweetheart neckline, and bracelet length sleeves or something covering her arms, made from a bright stretch cotton sateen.  We went backwards and forth for a while tossing around ideas and eventually settled on recreating a vintage dress from my collection - this Kamehameha (who was a Hawaiian king don't cha know!)

The sweetheart neckline is actually a straight cut that is turned into a sweetheart neckline by the tie - meaning you can have it as daring or not-so-daring as you like!

And the full circle skirt is embellished by (only one, sadly) amazing patch pocket that is reminiscent of the bust.

I decided to make Jodie a bolero to wear with her dress.  This would give her the sleeves she wants, but also make the dress more versatile, as she can wear it without the bolero, or with a different jacket or cardigan!

So I set about pattern making and cutting out all the fabric required - the cotton sateen and a contrasting cotton, and a whole bunch of bias strips.  This took me much longer than I thought it would!

I got caught up and forgot to take photos of the fabric before I started... oops!

Then I started construction - otherwise known as the fun bit!  The bodice went together very easily, even with all the fiddly details like the piping, pleated straps, and bodice tie.

Isn't the fabric she chose fabulous!  More of a mustard in person, but so bright!

The skirt and the fabulous pockets also went together really easily.  Actually the pockets were fun!  I love copying things - it really appeals to the problem solving side of me!

oops - thats a bit blurry... sorry!

Then before I knew it the dress was all done!

So it was on to the bolero.

I decided to make it double sided so that Jodie could decide to wear it pattern side out or plain side out.  But not just that, I decided to have a stripe running around the bottom of the bolero in the opposite fabric.

I love to make my life more interesting by adding LOTS of detail!

The bolero isn't finished yet, but here is the patterned side.

And here is the plain side.

Which way around do you think she should wear it???

This weekend I will be putting the finishing touches on the bolero, as well as starting on my next suit - a lovely bright olive green that I am adding an embellished vintage fur collar to.

Before I go I just want to apologise for this being my only blog post in a while.  I've been struck down by a cold / flu thing and its taken me a week and a half to get over it.  It seems that when I get these things now, I get much sicker than I did before I became a coeliac...

Anyway!

Have you done any  vintage recreations?  If you could recreate a vintage dress, which one would you choose?

Beccie
xxx