So we have a winner! I actually did the lottery last night just after midnight, but was too tired to write the post... But here it is and the winner is....
gjeometry.com!!!
Thanks for all participating in this. I know I don't have that many followers (well, I'm not exactly the most constant updater...), so I'm glad this reached people who were interested. I have sent an e-mail to the winner, and I'm looking forward to seeing your Gatsby dress :)
I was going through my bookshelf when I saw this book I bought last year when I was sewing my charleston dress. At the moment I'm interested in a book with more depth, although this was better than I thought (I have only looked at the pictures before...)
It's not a sewing book, but it's a quick book on the fashions of 1920s and 1930s. I think it pretty much did what it was supposed to do. It's not an extensive history of fashion and it doesn't go into details. What it does, it gives you a good idea of the fashion trends and what to look for when you want to recreate it. Whether you're buying vintage clothes or making your own to achieve the look. I think it's a great resource for someone who wants to have an period accurate costume or is starting to get into vintage fashion of these decades. It also gives a list of further information, if you're so inclined.
But, as I just ordered a more thorough fashion sourcebook and since there's the Great Gatsby Sewing Challenge and all, I thought I would offer this book as a giveaway. It is a pretty little thing, and I think it gives a good idea of the main trends in fashion especially reproducing the look in mind. It talkes about fabrics and cuts and stuff.
So, if you are interested in getting this book for yourself, leave a comment by the end of Friday 24th May (Central European time). There are no geographical restrictions, but I will send the book by cheapest method, so it might take awhile. I hope the book finds a loving home.
The ever-so-talented Miss Crayola Creepy is hosting a sewing challenge for May 2013:
As I'm in the need of a flapper dress (I haven't totally given up on fixing this one, but I'm not really looking forward to it: it won't be very flattering in any case), I decided to join. I'm not so excited about the movie, although I do want to see it, but I am excited about this challenge! This will be my first ever sewing challenge... We'll see how it goes. At least I'm very enthusiastic.
I have a problem with 20s style, so it took me awhile to find a pattern. I love the style, but the straight dress just doesn't look that great on me, 50s style is definitely more flattering on my figure. But I have looked at so many historical 20s dresses that I can say, that even though the majority was straight with a low waist that look better on an androgynous figure, there were also more fitted flapper dresses, like these:
Actress Juliette in Flapper Style Dress Date Photographed: ca. 1920s
So, this was my idea when looking for a pattern. I'm not great at seeing the possibilities of a pattern that has been styled very differently yet (I'm working on it...), but then I found this pattern from Sew-n-Sew:
So, I decided to get it. It wasn't the cheapest one, and I'm sure I could've found something similar with less money, but if I want to finish by the end of May, I need to decide on something. I'm quite slow at sewing and I make a lot of mistakes I need to correct, so I don't want to end up rushing this. And I really want to try to finish on time. But I'm happy with the pattern (at least for now), I just want longer fringe, like in the dress actress Juliette is wearing. This might be a challenge, though. I didn't find fringe I liked when I was doing the first charleston dress, so I hope my luck will change.
Ok, time to post about my fascination with 20s style. This sort of crept up on me, since first there was a 20s party and I had to get a dress. I found a nice red one in a costume store, but it wasn't the greatest quality, so in the end it didn't last so well with dancing. Because I got further into this, when I took a solo charleston dance classes from our rock 'n' roll & swing dance club. I totally fell head over heels for charleston. It's just so much FUN! We also did a flash mob at the invite premier of the Artist in Helsinki (and got to see the movie for free). Here's a video about it, and you can see my red dress (I'm in the first row).
Well, after the red dress fell apart, or the decorations did, and the form wasn't that perfect to begin with, I decided I would make myself a dress. Especially since I didn't really see anything that I could buy that was in my price range and that I would like to wear. So I ended up sewing one. While making it I realized that my body isn't really the best for 20s fashion (see: What to do when taste and body don't match?). But I like it anyway, so I try to make the best of it.
But I had problems with this dress and not the least because I was in a hurry to finish it. But I did, in time for the Speakeasy party. It still needs some work, I didn't have time to add the lace and the lace isn't finished yet, but the dress was wearable - sort of. It worked for the night with the help of safety pins. The upper part doesn't sit quite right so I had to attach my bra to the dress with safety pins and because the bra was as flattening as possible, a sports bra, the safety pins were eating my flesh pretty nicely. Luckily no one else could tell. But I will try to make this a bit usable, when I figure out how.
The dress actually looks pretty good in the picture and you can only barely see the line that comes from my sport bra. So things to be done: fix the upper part, decorate with lace and find a flattening sports bra without seams. I'll let you know how that goes.
Pattern: Charleston dress, 20s, Suuri Käsityölehti 9/2009 (20s style pattern from Finnish sewing magazine)
Year: 1920s/2009
Notions: I added the zipper (2,55 €), which wasn't included in the original pattern. As I have planned this for dancing/20s parties and I want to try to create the whole look with hair and make-up, I want to be able to get into the dress after I have done my hair & make-up. Also planned some decorating, which will be added later if I can work out the kinks with this dress.
Time: ~13h
This includes learning to use my new sewing machine and few times taking the sewing apart. And yes, I think I'm just slow. I also tend to pin and then baste (by hand) all the seams before actually sewing.
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