This is (I think) the last in my
Bioshock-induced series of
1940s style dresses. The fabric is a lovely gabardine, the same type as I used for my
Viking underdress. The peacock appliqué is a machine embroidery that I saw on the wall at
Needlewitch and just had to use on something! In an alarmingly sensible course of events I found that it fit perfectly with something I was already planning to make. And it matches my historical inspiration.
For this dress I redesigned the sleeve cuff on my pattern. While I do love the original peaked cuff I didn’t need all the dresses to be the same and I thought this change added a staid elegance to a dress that was a bit more formal than the others. The gold piping is made from crepe satin leftover from a
Barbie costume I previously made.
The dress went together much as normal. Just in time I remembered to make sure the waistband seams matched across the zip. I felt a bit more pressure to be neat with this one, since the fabric was so plain that any mistakes would actually be visible. The sleeves, which had fitted reasonably smoothly on the other dresses, caused trouble here which I fixed by spreading the pleats over a longer part of the shoulder than I had before.
The appliqués were attached by hand. They were first tacked on and then stitched in gold, with the stitches matching the direction of the embroidery stitches.
