Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Mad Men Dress Challenge

I am happy to announce I have finally managed to sew along with the annual Mad Men Dress Challenge over at Julia Bobbin!  The past two years the due date for submitting dresses has passed me by, so I am so happy she is hosting it again!

And of course I had to go a with Joan Holloway inspired dress...


Like everyone else, I positively love Joan's style. There are so many of her outfits I'd like to own.  


The pattern I used is from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing.  I've had the book since the week it came out and my plan from the beginning was to make the cover dress. I'm so glad I finally took the plunge. I made a muslin first to work out any fitting issues, but the fit was perfect. I took a little out of the hip area at the end.  My only problem with making this dress was inserting the gussets! Man was that hard! I broke a sweat each time I inserted one in the underarm seam, and went very very slowly. When I had them inserted properly I felt like I needed a shot of whiskey or something (not really since I almost never drink anymore!), but it was worth the trouble. I like the close fitting kimono sleeves on this dress very much.


My fabric is some kind of stretch "bottom weight" from JoAnn. It has some weight to it, so it's good for winter. I may end up wearing this dress for Easter since I feel like winter will never end this year! I usually buy fabric online these days but once in awhile I find the perfect thing at JoAnn's.


  I added the pleated detail to the sleeve on a whim, I like it!


Here is one of the back:




I'm super excited for the sew-along to end so I can see what everyone else made!