1940s Ford & Floral

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

A couple weeks ago those of you who follow me on IG gave your input and said I should use my tropical rayon with this 1940s pattern.  You spoke, and I listened!

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

But sometimes sewing doesn't go as planned.  Sometimes you do a muslin test of a pattern you think is going to be so easy that you really consider it just a formality of being a "good sewist," then it epically fails.  Then you try another muslin, sure this time it will work, and it turns out to be worse than the first. 

At this point in the story I pulled a CeeLo and told that stupid muslin, "FORGET YOU!"

Sometimes you just have to go balls to the wall (in the aeronautical sense) and just cut into the fashion fabric and hope for the best.  (I've got sewing details on this pattern in the post with a TLDR summary at the bottom!)

I realized after cutting into my fashion fabric that using cotton muslin as a test for a rayon garment just doesn't work well.  The cotton behaves differently than the rayon, and the fitting adjustments I made on the cotton were not necessary on the rayon.  My cotton muslins were far too roomy at the waist, by about 5-6 inches, in fact.  I tried to combat this with bringing in the side seams and back darts, but it ended up looking stupid with the kimono sleeves and looser fit of the shoulders.   BAH!

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

For my fashion fabric, the only adjustment I did to the pattern was to shorten the shoulder/bodice length by about 7/8".  My torso is a bit shorter than the average person's, so I figured this would be a good tweak.  The length of the pattern in this area also accounts for thick 1940s shoulder pads, a detail I did not consider when making my cotton muslins but did indeed remember in time for the fashion fabric.

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

The pattern also advises that 2-3" be added to the skirt length for a hem, but since that's usually the amount I remove from a pattern, I just cut it out as it was.

Luckily.... it worked!  The dress has turned out well, though it did involve only one major alteration to the fashion-fabric version I made: I still needed to bring in the waist about 7-8" at the side seams, for there was almost no waist shaping in the pattern at all!  It went almost straight down from bust to hips with very little curve, and I looked like a terrible 1980s tropical shmoo.  I removed the zipper and brought it in about 4" on each side, tapering out to the slim the hips just a tiny bit below and adjusting the bust only as necessary to smoothly meet the curve from the waist.

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

I made shoulder pads about 3/4" thick, hemmed the dress and let it hang on a padded hanger for a few days to "shape" the shoulder pads correctly.  Then I wore it for the first time yesterday!  

I paired it with a Muchana Panama hat I fancied up with some red yarn pom-poms, blue Swedish Hasbeens, vintage earrings... and a 1940 Ford!  

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

This is my grandfather's prized car that he built and restored.  Back in his crazy drag-racing teenage years, my grandpa had a 1940 Ford.  He ended up selling it to pay for the hospital bill when my father was born.  A few years ago my grandmother surprised him with boxes full of old car parts... that when put together would make his '40 Ford!  I've never seen my grandfather so happy as when he got those boxes of parts.  He has since built the car, put a Mustang flathead motor in it and gotten it all shined up.  It looks awesome, and he was more than happy to let me borrow it for a shoot.  (You also saw this car in my wedding photos!)

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress

I got a lot of compliments from non-vintage-wearers when I wore this, which kind of surprised me.  Shoulder pads usually earn me some strange looks, but the compliments I got with this ensemble was, "I love the details in it. Clothes don't have details like that," and "Wow, you look fantastic! What a lovely dress!"  I think that's pretty great.

Flashback Summer: 1940s Ford & Floral Dress


Here is a summary of the pattern details and things I changed:
Fabric: modern rayon, red tag fabric from Joann 
Pattern: 8142 (not sure of the company...)
Year: 1940s war era is my guess!
Notions: 6 buttons, zipper. I also used light interfacing around the neckline.
How historically accurate is it? Pretty accurate as far as fiber content of the fabric and silhouette.  
Any tricky parts to the pattern? The complete lack of waist shaping!  That required major adjusting, and I took at least 7-8" out of the waist.  The point at the back can be a bit trick to line up correctly, but it does wonders in accentuating the bum nicely!
Did you change anything?  I didn't add extra for a hem, just turned it up where the pattern ended.  Took a lot out of the waist, too, as I talked about above.
Time to complete: two days
First worn: 17 July 2016
Total cost: The fabric, I think, was about $15.  The buttons were about $3, and the zipper was from my stash. The pattern was a gift from a lovely friend!
Notes: The drape of this pattern really requires a heavy, draped fabric like rayon. I can't see it working at all with quilting cotton and looking right.

So what do you guys think?  How did it turn out?  Feelin' good about the crowd's pattern choice?

16 comments

  1. Yeah! So exited to see this pattern made up! I thought it looked familiar when I saw your IG post. ;) Glad it worked for you even though you had to make major adjustments. Sometimes the fit of vintage patterns is just plain weird! And I love seeing this car again. It's so much fun to take photos with vintage cars.

    On a sad note, I just learned that the older gentleman who owned the cars Cori and I had some engagement photos with recently passed away. Not sure what will happen to his collection. He had barns (yes, more than one!!) FULL of vintage cars!! I have an idea the family will just sell everything. :(
    -Emily

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    1. That is very sad indeed. But if I know the car community, the guys that buy those cars will love them too! My grandpa is always buying and selling them, and the guys all keep an eye out for the ones their friends want. I'm sure they will find good homes!

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  2. It turned out lovely! Perfect for summer!

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  3. What a beautiful dress. I love how the tropical fabric looks in this style and the angled buttons. It looks lovely on you. Also that car is amazing, I just love old cars. Looks like you had fun ;)

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  4. Love how that dress turned out. Also, this photo shoot is fabulous:) love that car.
    -Madison

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  5. Ooh wonderful, and those colours are amazing!

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  6. This dress is so lovely. And what a fantastic car. My neighbor has a 1940s car he fully restored, and we used it a our wedding car

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  7. So excited to see the final dress! It turned out great, and I love how the button/gathered detail ended up looking. You have styled this so perfectly- the hat, the shoes, the bracelets and especially the car :)
    The Artyologist

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  8. That is such a heartwarmingly beautiful story. Aww! Your grandparents sound like super loving, wonderful folks.

    This dress is gorgeous Dark, rich colours are just incredible on you.

    xoxo ♥ Jessica

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  9. So stunning - both you and that car! You look so comfy and happy in this post in your dress. Great job.

    Also, I just wanted to give you a bit more info about your pattern. I have one almost just like it - in a similar asymmetric dress style, with the same company, same "1st place" medal, and instruction sheet. My pattern was bought with it's original mailing envelope, and it has a stamped date of July 1947 from the "St. Louis Globe Democrat Newspaper, Chicago, Illinois" as the place where the pattern came from. Your pattern is in a completely different number range than mine, but I think your pattern is probably post-WWII, too. If you want, I can email you the pictures of my pattern.

    I'm so glad you mentioned about the hem allowance needing to be added on - I didn't see that on my sheet before! You did a great review - it was so very helpful.

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    1. Thank you so much for the info!!! That's really helpful. Yes, if you wouldn't mind sending me a picture of your pattern, I'd hugely appreciate it!

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  10. The dress is fabulous - I love the big bold print and it is a really flattering shape too (thanks to your adjustments!). Also the story of your grandfather's car is so sweet.

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  11. I love it! Both the dress and the car. :-) I really like the detail on the front of the dress.

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  12. I love the bright, vibrate colors of the fabric, and then the print is just wonderful!! And it looks marvelous on you too!

    xoxo
    -Janey

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  13. Super outfit! The print is so pretty and the colours so vibrant. Great to hear the story behind the car, that is very special.

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  14. Oh my goodness! The car! The car is STUNNING! There's one awaiting restoration parked right behind where our classic car lives! x

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