I’ve had this vintage 1950s silk in my stash for a very long time. It’s a creamy, papery, rustling shantung with red flowers and grass green stems. I acquired it by fighting off weaker, inferior Ebayers with my exceptional and cutthroat bidding skills. But once I received the fabric I was too chicken to do anything with it. Vintage fabric lovers know that fabric from the 1950s in good condition is hard to come by, but rarer still is finding continuous yardage that is enough to make anything other than craft items and doll clothes. So when I suddenly found myself in possession of whopping five and a half yards of pristine silk shantung with a floral mock warp print (poppies? parrot tulips? roses?), I had a hard time working up the nerve to cut into it. If there’s any more of it left in the world, it’s probably just scraps!
When I was finally ready to take the plunge, I decided on a simple silhouette inspired by Dior’s New Look, which I thought would suit the 1950s fabric. The print is already quite elaborate for me, so the pattern itself has minimal detail. I drafted the strapless princess bodice and gathered circular skirt (more of a squashed circle actually) from scratch with the help of the brilliant Tchad. The first snip of the shears into the rare and precious material made my blood run cold for a second, but I managed. I made a lining from (new) silk taffeta, stitched fabric-covered featherboning to the lining bodice, underlined the bodice and facings with muslin, slip stitched the facings to the lining, and put in an invisible side zip.
And then….
… I put it aside and ignored it for months on end, as I do with so many of my projects. Finally I took it out yesterday and decided it was time to hem. I haven’t measured the circumference of the hem, but it’s a *gathered* circle, so I’m guessing it’s at least 10 feet. Suffice it to say, pinning and hemming that thing by hand took about five hours. I had just enough silk thread.
Here’s the current state of things:
And here is the part where I twirl:
The swishy sound of this fabric is phenomenal. It’s not done yet- I still have to hem the lining, which I guess will take another five hours! Maybe I’ll get around to that in a couple of months too
19 comments
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November 8, 2009 at 8:23 am
Erica B.
That is just gorgeous! That’s the perfect silhouette for that fabric!
November 8, 2009 at 9:09 am
Kayy
You have the knack! That is an absolutely gorgeous creation, and like all of your dresses, it fits you beautifully.
November 8, 2009 at 9:43 am
Shams
Very very cute!!
November 9, 2009 at 3:55 am
senaSews
The dress is adorable. Wow, you look gorgeous!
November 9, 2009 at 4:35 pm
jonesyb
So. Gorgeous. Like Erica said, perfect marriage of fabric and design.
November 9, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Intimidated by fabric « The Selfish Seamstress
[…] bought nothing. I guess I’m not really that much of a silk person, with the exception of my Delancey Dress. I’m much more of a wool girl. Silky slippery stuff in particular is something that […]
November 9, 2009 at 7:26 pm
laura
A great choice for such pretty fabric! I have some sharkskin yardage that is from the 1940’s! It came from my great grandmother’s best friend’s stash. Wow, say that fast three times. Anyway I don’t know if I’ll ever cut into it; it’ll probably rot first.
November 10, 2009 at 6:43 am
Katie
Wow….that’s all I can say. I’m just now getting into garment sewing and you are an inspiration. This dress is truly a perfect combination of fabric and design. Great job!
November 10, 2009 at 6:59 am
Paul
Hi,
I am interested in purchasing your herringbone hikaru jacket, I been trying to find a way to contact you but dont know how. Is it for sale?
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/herringbone-hikaru?image=61546
Thanks,
Paul
November 11, 2009 at 10:13 am
Meredith P
It’s just beautiful. Personally, I’d machine hem that lining as fast as I could.
November 12, 2009 at 5:04 am
Michele
I love the dress and it looks so sweet on you. What a wonderful choice for your vintage fabric!
November 15, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Cindy May
gorgeous. yes, make friends with your narrow hemmer fit for the lining. 10-20 minutes vs. 5 hours will make you a believer. and yes, it can be done on a cicrcle hem!
November 15, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Cindy May
btw, what book/method did you use for the bodice for all the boning/muslin stays? thanks!
November 17, 2009 at 1:12 pm
selfishseamstress
Hi Cindy May! I don’t know if there’s a particular method I used. I cut boning for all of the princess seams long enough to run from the top of the bodice to the waist. I rounded the edges of the plastic boning and stitched the fabric casing over them, and then I hand stitched the boning onto the inside of the lining along the seams down both sides of the boning. That’s pretty much it!
December 26, 2009 at 10:02 am
Michelle
Beautiful. You did a great job. I can’t believe you drafted that yourself (not that I don’t really think you can’t draft patterns).
You look fabulous in that dress. A great timeless piece. And the fabric is awesome. You definitely did it justice.
December 29, 2009 at 2:10 am
Noelle
Hi there! I must say that while I was reading your description of making this and only seeing peeks of the pictures come up from the bottom of my screen I was holding my breath because of all the wonderful places this dress could go. And then I saw it and it simply took my breath away (and my breath does not get taken away very easily)! It is all that I dreamed it would be and more. I hope you got this finished! You should be so proud of yourself!
I just found your blog and am reading it straight through tonight so I guess maybe I will find out tonight if this one got done or not. If not, you should get on it!
Thanks for keeping me in stitches tonight ;-)
Noelle
January 6, 2010 at 8:42 am
Selfish Seamstress shuts up and sews for once already geez « The Selfish Seamstress
[…] drafted up a muslin using the bodice of my Delancey Dress as a block, which (duh) made for a pretty good fit on the first try. Just a bit of a pinch under […]
January 19, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Talk me down if I’m going to do something stupid « The Selfish Seamstress
[…] you see above is my entire stash of silk fabric. Well, aside from the remnants from my Delancey Dress, that is. It may strike you as surprising that a Selfish fabric glutton like me has only one piece […]
April 10, 2010 at 8:36 pm
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[…] buttons are Gutermann, the on-seam pockets are silk taffeta, of which I had a remnant from my Delancey dress, the lining is Bemberg (100% rayon) in a blush pink. It’s a bit flimsy for a jacket, but it […]