Polka Dot Dress (Challenge Create: Adult Edition Week 3)

"(Hint of) Vintage" is this week's theme for Challenge Create: Adult Edition. When it comes to vintage clothing I'm drawn to the lovely dresses of the 1950's and 1960's, and the dress that I made for this challenge is actually a combination of both of these decades. I had two suitable patterns on hand; one modern but 1950's inspired pattern and one vintage 1960's pattern, and couldn't decide which one to use. I liked the look of the 1960's dress but was afraid that I would find the high-rise neck uncomfortable. I liked the 1950's inspired one as well, but I know that a gathered skirt will make me look pregnant (which I'm not!). And then I got the idea - why not use the bodice from the 1950's inspired pattern and the skirt from the 1960's pattern? So that's what I tried, and it worked out very well! (I'm probably breaking lots of unwritten rules here - I told my sister, who is a history student, about my plans and she was a bit horrified that I was going to combine two decades... but I never said the dress was going to be historically correct, right?) Here's a look at the two patterns:

The 1950's inspired pattern is the "Lavinia" dress from Ottobre 2/2012, and the vintage pattern is called Burda "2 0523". (Probably out-of-print since 40 years ago or so...) The polka-dot fabric with its 1950's vibe is 100 % cotton and it started its life as a duvet cover that I picked up at a thrift store a few years ago with the intention of making a vintage-inspired dress. This challenge was exactly what I needed to finally get it done! The lining fabric is another thrift store find that I had on hand, and so is the zipper. (Sounds like I could have entered this dress for next week's Destash challenge as well!)

Each time I sew a dress I'm surprised at how much work it is, and this time was no exception. Combining two patterns was trickier than I thought, because it meant that I had no instructions for how to put the two parts together. It worked out well in the end but I had to think and re-think the process several times. But it was a lot of fun as well, and I'm happy with the dress!

Summary in Swedish: Veckans tema för Challenge Create: Adult Edition är "(Hint of) Vintage" och mitt bidrag är en klänning som är inspirerad av både 1950- och 1960-talets klänningar. Jag kombinerade två mönster, ett nytt men 1950-talsinspirerat mönster från Ottobre 2/2012 och ett Burda-mönster från 1960-talet, genom att använda överdelen från Ottobre-mönstret och kjoldelen från 60-talsmönstret. Det var lite klurigt men blev bra till slut! Tyget är inköpt på second hand just för att sy en vintage-inspirerad klänning, och nu tre år senare är den äntligen klar!