Forties' Crossover Dress

For this dress, I was due to go on a steam train journey in mid-December (yeah, I'm slow at blogging), and I figured it just wouldn't be right to do such a thing without dressing for the era. I decided to go for something 1940's themed, as it is an era of fashion I love (unlike the 30's) and that suits me (unlike the 20's).

I was very tempted to try and recreate something by Modes Royale, as I have long lusted after their designs, but I thought it might be overly complicated to try and work one out and fully do it justice in the time frame. 

Modes Royale, date unsure (the one on the left)

Modes Royale Spring 1950. So not technically 1940s...

Also, I felt like making a dress rather than outerwear for this project, so these wouldn't have been suitable anyway. I did a bit more looking around for styles of the time that would actually suit me, and after seeing a lot of gathered, crossover bodices and straight, just-below-the-knee skirts, that was the theme I went for.

Modes Royale (not sure the year)

Simplicity 1940s

I decided to add an asymmetric waist to the crossover look, as you can see in my lovely sketch below:

I used black Ponte Roma for this - not the most historically accurate choice, but it was stretchy and warm and not too expensive, so it fulfilled all the things I really cared about!

To make the pattern, I originally thought I'd drape it on the mannequin, so I used some design tape (is that what it's called? not sure...) to mark out the design lines.

This was great to get my head around how I'd make it, but with all the lines that needed to be matched up, I decided it would be easier to control if I drafted it on paper instead. This is the most complex self-drafted pattern I've made so far, so I'm surprised at how well it worked - the toile only needed the expected minor tweaks to improve the fit, but otherwise was just as I'd envisaged. I have no idea how this happened. 

I didn't think to take any pictures of the drafting, toile, or sewing up process (why do I always forget to do this?) so I won't go into too much detail on how I drafted it - though if you'd like to know, I'd be more than happy to attempt at explaining! 

In a nutshell, I took my dress sloper, and divided the front into 4 sections - a left wrap top (to go underneath), a right wrap top (to go over), asymmetric waistband, and skirt (I went for just below the knee length) - you can see these same lines on the mannequin above. The back had a half-back section (symmetrical), asymmetric waistband, and two skirt back pieces (asymmetric). For the collar, the design tape ended up being useful, as it was much easier to get a rough outline by pinning fabric overtop than it would have been to try and draft one. The sleeves, I drafted separately following these instructions. And then I just sewed it all up in whatever order seemed logical!

I managed to make the sleeve shoulders wayyy bigger than the armholes, so I put in little pleats at the shoulders to sort out the excess. It was one of those rare times when messing up is actually a blessing in disguise, as I really love the way they turned out.

For closures, I used an invisible zip down the centre back and 2 hooks & eyes above this, for the collar.

And really, that's about it! The dress ended up being quite rushed at the end, as I was working to a deadline, so it wasn't my finest seamstressing work, but I'm giving myself a pat on the back for my new-found pattern-drafting skillz!

So onto the pictures! I was originally thinking of getting some pictures while actually on the train, or even near the train, but I may have underestimated the flowing of the liquid Christmas spirit, as they all came out pretty blurred.