New Summer Dress part 2

The other day I posted about a new dress I was working on, remember the one where the zipper broke.   I decided to finish the dress so I could get some good wearing in before it's cold. Not that it will get cold anytime soon here in the Ohio Valley, but if I didn't rip out that old zipper the dress would get  thrown in the "some day will finish bin." And I love the dress too much to let that happen. 

I used vintage sheets to make the dress & lining.  I love sewing with vintage sheets, but the downside is if you make a mistake you can't go to the fabric store to pick up another yard.  The plus to that is it makes me a more cautious seamstress.  Of course there were some mistakes on this dress, skirt getting caught in hem etc... But they were easily fixable. 

I used Vogue 2902 which is one of their vintage reproduction patterns.  This dress is from 1952.  I love dresses from the 50's, the silhouette are flattering and they are simple yet elegant.  This pattern can be made into a simple sundress as I did, or I could use a satin and make a dress for a fancy occasion.  When you wear dresses from the 1950's you have to remember to wear your petticoat! The skirts had so much fabric, if you don't wear one the dress just hangs there and isn't as glamorous.  

This pattern was super easy to sew and I will definitely make another one very soon, just need to pick out some fabric.  I tried something I hadn't done before, attaching the bodice lining to the skirt by machine rather than hand.  I had to sew the straps to the dress by hand and I was so tired of hand sewing, so I used a hem stitch to attache the bodice lining to the bodice skirt - and it worked!  I need to practice more on that blind hem stitch, it's not always blind on my fabric! But for this lining no one will see it but me.  The pin I used for the belt was my grandmothers and I think it looks lovely and compliments the flowers in the dress.