50s Housewife Dress!

Pattern: Kwik Sew 3521
(Go to kwiksew.com and search for the pattern #)

From the pattern envelope: Misses' sleeveless dresses have fitted, lined bodice with bust and waist darts, gathered skirt, and center back zipper. View A has scoop neckline and contrast bias cut sash. View B has boat neckline and self-fabric belt with buckle.

I made View B in a Small.

What a great dress! My sister called this my "50s housewife dress" and I realized that the description was very apt!

This was my first try at a Kwik Sew pattern and I must say that it was great! The directions were very easy to follow and they weren't printed on big, flimsy, newspaper-like paper that you have to wrestle with. The pattern itself was printed on regular paper so it was very sturdy. The sizes on this multi-size pattern (XS-XL) are color-coded which made for easy cutting.

After great difficulty in finding appropriate fabric, I fell in love with some beautiful flower-patterned silky polyester at Joann Fabric. Since the material was pretty thin, I decided to line the entire dress with light cotton broadcloth so I could avoid wearing a slip. I also didn't want the skirt to stick to my legs (ew!). The lining also gave the skirt a bit more body which I like. The flower-shaped belt buckle is also from Joann.

The construction of this dress included a few firsts for me. This was the first zipper I have ever installed. It's not perfect, but it's doing the job it was intended. Practice, practice, practice!

This was also my first try at a blind hem on my sewing machine. Once I figured out (reading my sewing machine manual, of course) how to fold the hem and had gotten a bit of practice under my belt with some scraps, it was super easy to do. I'm just tickled pink that the hem turned out so nice!

Since this was my first try at dress-making, the bodice took a bit of fitting. I ended up removing the back darts since apparently my waist isn't as small as the pattern. Bummer, eh?

I shortened the skirt when cutting out the pattern, but I ended up hemming the skirt about 1.5 inches so it would hit right above my knee. I'm short! What can I say?

I really enjoyed making this dress--anticipating how it would turn out was torture and great all at the same time! I just hope it looks as good on me as I want it to. Maybe I'll get a better pic of me wearing the dress sometime soon.

Cheers!