Extravagance is Everything : Grandchild of the 70s

I try not to build up too much of a sewing stash (so say we all) but there are some things you can't leave in the shop. For instance, a number of years ago I picked up this gorgeous 1976 pattern, Style 1353, for 20c at a church fete.

When I was on holidays a while ago (I think it was the New Zealand trip where I bought also this) I bought lots of metres of a lovely turquoise rayon. I think it must be a rayon blend as it does not crumple the way some rayons do.

Looking through the stash I thought this fabric and this pattern would go together perfectly, so I... put them in a project bag and proceeded to ignore it for a year or so. But in September I thought the time had come to actually make this.

Before sewing the dress up, I had to, as usual, deal with the pattern. I have the pattern in its smallest size, which is pretty close to my measurements, but it was still too big. On my mockup I found that one side seam sat in the right place (pretty much the middle of my side) but the other was pulling around to the back. To fix this, I made a separate bodice pattern for each side and did a small bust adjustment on the side where the seam was in the wrong place. There was a lot of room in the back too, so I increased the centre back seam allowance from the top, tapering it to the original width at the base of the waistband. I had to take it in even more on the final dress.

When I made up the bodice I found the front was baggy. To remove the front bagginess, I left the centre front and gathering attached to the waistband and gradually lowered the rest of the front (to about the point where the pin is in the picture) then gradually went back the normal seam allowance just past the side seam.

You might also notice that in the picture there is an awful ridge in the waistband. This was because I was having delusions of neatness and thought I could hide the bodice seam in the lined waistband. I didn’t do that the second time and the ridge disappeared. The bodice is self-lined, so it has the proper drape, and the waistband is lined with a sturdy twill to hold its shape.

So far I have overlooked the most significant change I made, which was redesigning the neckline. Lovely as the pattern looks, a neckline that is open to the waistband is beyond the pale for me, so on my initial muslin I changed the pattern so the bodice pieces met three inches above the waistband. I wasn’t sure how the change of shape would work out given that I was changing a diagonal edge to one that had a right angle and then curved, but it ended up sitting very nicely.

This was my final pattern – you can see several iterations of changes.

However, every time I tried it on I kept thinking “is it too low?” It looked nice but, in the end, I came to the conclusion that I would probably never be comfortable wearing it, so I unpicked the bodice and started a new one. This is where the ‘lots of metres’ of fabric came in handy. I raised the neckline of the pattern by another 1.5 inches. Sadly, the shaping is not quite as smooth as the first version but, on the other hand, I am comfortable wearing the dress so it was the right decision.

On the whole I like this dress a lot. If I were to make it again I would change one more thing, which is to add a centre seam to the cape. The pattern has the cape cut in one piece which sounds like a good idea; however the bias drape means that one side of the cape hangs longer than the other. As much as having a seam would be a shame, I think I’d rather it be symmetrical.

For 70s makeup I didn’t have to ask youtube for advice; instead I asked my mum. The period-correct eyeshadow technique turned out to be “make it all blue” which was slightly concerning when it first went on but looked good with the dress.