I had a sudden surge of inspiration and a strong desire to draft patterns in August, so I started on this dress, which was inspired by the pink dress that Liesl wears in The Sound of Music. I have always loved the huge sleeves and more-than-circle skirt in that dress, especially since it looks so lovely while she danced. As someone who grew up watching that movie, I have been wanting to make myself a version of it for years. While this dress isn't a copy or anything, the shape of it makes me feel the same way that I imagine she felt in that scene.
This dress is a bit of a frankenstein, with half of it drafted by me and half of it commercial patterns. The sleeves are from my 1930's swiss dot dress (though I had altered the sleeves on my swiss dot dress so that they were more of a bishop sleeve, while this one I kept the gathering at the armscye) and the skirt is from the Patterns by Gertie dirndl that I have used a few times in the past.
The bodice was a simple pattern to draft, however it ended causing me trouble later on.
It is simple, with bust, waist, and back darts for fit. My favourite aspect of the dress is the collar, which is a standing boatneck. I was nervous to draft the pattern for it since I have never attempted one before, but it ended up going really well! I did not have to make any adjustments at the fitting stage, and I love the way that it turned out. I also didn't need to make any adjustments to the bodice when I was doing the fitting, but once it was cut out in the actual fabric, I decided that I hated it. Something about the amount of ease I had put into the pattern mixed with the puffy sleeves and the large rose print on the fabric made it look like a dress from the 1980's. I ended up taking the waist in (nearly 6"... which is a huge amount. Where did all that extra fabric even come from??), and it was so much better once I did that! Now I feel like it has much more of a 50's shape.
I chose this fabric (from out local quilt shop) because of the moths and beetles in the print. I have always loved fabric prints that pretty from a distance but have something a bit morbid in the details. I thought that this was a perfect way to have a Halloween themed dress, since it isn't too obvious or kitchy (although I do love a kitschy dress every once in a while).
Despite regularly making clothes that would be perfect costumes for Halloween, I am not much of a fan of dressing up for the holiday. As a very jumpy person, scary movies and other things that Halloween usually has are not my cup of tea. However, I love the slightly macabre Victorian things that become popular! I always get very excited when Michaels brings out their witchy looking collection, and I love the resurgence of interest in Victorian mourning clothing. Victorians did some of the best morbid, macabre decor, and I often am inspired by it. For the photos for this dress, I decided to add a few Victorian styled details, such as a black lace parasol, the black fascinator (that always reminds me of Lucille in Crimson Peak), and the stripy, tie-up shoes.
Are you planning on dressing up for Halloween this year? Are you a lover of Halloween or an avoider?
Thanks for reading!
~Katherine
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