1950s “Morgan” Dress

I had this scarlet red cotton anglaise lace for over a year in my stash, so last month I decided it was finally time for it to become a dress. I wanted to make the most of the border of the fabric, so I knew the dress was going to have a dirndl style skirt. For the bodice I drafted a sweetheart neckline bodice and cap sleeves, making use of the fabric’s border yet again. I *barely* had enough fabric to make this dress, it was 3.25 yards of 45” fabric. I also ended up lining the entire dress with some red rayon I had from my stash, because the holes in the fabric where large enough to be noticeable. Even if I wore a slip underneath the stark whiteness of it would clash with the dress, hence the need for a full lining. I ended up calling this dress the “Morgan” dress after seeing these photos of the private study in J.P. Morgan’s Library.

The first step was to cut out the skirt which was was the full width of the fabric and 29.5” long. I cut two panels, one for the front, one for the back. The back panel I cut in half, because I planned on doing a back zipper for this dress.

I then cut out four pocket pieces. They were sewn with 1/4” seam allowance 3” down from the top of the skirt.

The front and back panels were then sewn together at the side seams. The pockets were then pressed to the front of the skirt. The white tape you see is a piece of twill tape that I inserted in between the pocket pieces before they were sewn. This is secured when the waist seam is sewn up later on. The tape helps distribute the weight of whatever you put in the pocket.

I then cut the red rayon lining 45” wide and 30.5” long, to account for the need to hem this layer. It was then sewed up in the same manner. This layer did not have pockets because it was just the lining. I then placed the cotton lace skirt on top of the lining and serged the top edge, joining them together.

I then drafted the bodice, the mockup of which you see here.

I then cut out the bodice front, back, and sleeves from the cotton lace fabric and the red rayon lining. The sleeves however were just a single layer of cotton lace. I then serged all the pieces to finish them.

I then sewed the underarm seams of sleeves, then set them aside to work on the rest of the bodice.

I then flatlined the rayon lining piece with the front bodice. After the flatlining was done I marked the darts with tailor’s chalk.

I then flatlined the back piece with some pieces of the cotton lace fabric, because I ran out of the rayon lining. I also marked the darts on these pieces as well.

I then sewed the four front darts and fused some lightweight interfacing (2” wide) to the neckline.

I then did the same thing for the back.

After the darts were sewn and the neckline interfaced, I sewed the shoulder seams.

I then used the scraps I had left over (what’s pictured was it) and cut some 3” wide bias stripes.

I then sewed these right sides together with the bodice and flipped them towards the interior, where they were sewn down by hand.

After the neckline was handled, I sewed the side seams.

The final step of the bodice was to set the sleeves.

I then folded the back skirt into eight equal sections which were matched up with the pin marks on the back bodice, also folded into eight equal sections. The same process was repeated with the front of the skirt and bodice.

The skirt was then knife pleated into place. I took care to make sure the side seams (where the pockets sat) fell nicely at fold of the pleat so I could access them without disrupting the flow of the skirt.

This was all done flat, without the center back seam of either the skirt nor the bodice being done up. This makes everything sooo much easier. The sewing up of the center back seam had multiple steps involved. I sewed the cotton lace skirt first. Then I the rayon lining. I did this separately so the two skirts could hang independently of each other.

I then sewed the zipper in place. (which I have no photo of) What I instead have a photo of is me cutting 7/8” wide strips of heavy weight interfacing to make my belt from.

These strips were 22” long therefore I overlapped them by an 1”. After they were overlapped I covered the belt with two layers of the cotton lace fabric. The double layers were to cover up the holes in the fabric so you wouldn't see the interfacing through the belt.

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Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.