Simplicity dress pattern 1940. Sleeves still to be added.
It’s official. It will be 2012 before this 1940 dress is complete. Sleeves appearing this side of Christmas? Not likely. Self-facing the neck line by next Saturday? Yeah, right!
In between now and Christmas Eve, I have 5 days of Santa avoidance to complete. 3 whole days and 2 half days in the office dodging Christmas cheer in order to finish work I need to complete in 2011. As such I doubt that I’ll be coming home to sew!
The centre yoke piece on this 1940 Simplicity pattern is what attracted me to it. It rises up to create a diamond shape under the bust and below the waist forms an upside V. (It’s most easily seen in the drawing on the pattern picture below).
The under bust piece, inclusive of the gathers, was actually very easy. The pleats in the skirt, a snack. Getting the bottom of that yoke attached to the skirt part and to line up with the yoke piece at the back – a real challenge. The original Simplicity pattern recommends to join the centre yoke and back yoke first. I can see the advantage in that approach – after the fact. It seemed, at the time, worth giving up having the yoke attached in order to avoid the fiddling at the sides. In the end, it’s a line ball call on what is easier. Quite simply, this style of pattern on a sheer fabric (which the pattern suggests), is a recipe for unpicking! Even with interfacing in that centre panel, the piece moves as quick as John Travolta’s hips in Grease.
If any vintage junkies out there are considering this style of 1940s dress, I urge you to ignore the pattern (Simplicity, my foot!) and go with cotton! True, it won’t fall as beautifully as the sheer however you’ll escape the need for a slip and a few hundred expletives. Your unpicker will thank you as well. Mine has removed the zip twice before I let it off the hook with a case of third time lucky.
Finished dress in the new year I hope!
