Vintage Simplicity 3523

Another finished dress, three more to go!

I just adore this dress! I love the fabric, the sleeves, the neck line, the princess seams, the wiggle skirt, the pockets, the fit, everything!

 

I made this dress with Vintage Simplicity 3523 from 1960, which doesn't appear to be the in the Vintage Patterns Wiki, so I might have to figure out how to add it.  The pattern description is: "Dress with bateau neckline, back zipper closing and short kimono sleeves cut in one with front and back bodice. V. 1 has top-stitching, sheath skirt with gathers at waistline, pockets in side front seams and back vent opening. Belt is self or purchased. V. 2 full skirt is softly pleated. Top-stitching is optional. Cummerbund is self fabric".

I made version 1 and used an existing belt that I already own as I'm still deciding if I should make one. The fabric is from Tessuti, this one here. I love the casual look that the bodice has, almost like a tailored t-shirt dress.

The tiny front pocket.

Despite this dress looking simple, it was really quite hard to make. The princess seams form part of the kimono sleeve, which I think helps with movement, a gusset of sorts. In order to get these pieces to match with the very slight seam allowances, the pattern calls for bias pieces of fabric to first be stitched to the bodice, then slashed through the middle and turned in to the wrong side so that you can sew the side princess panels onto the bodice. Below are photos of the pattern piece and instructions, so you can see what I mean.

It was super hard to get this neat and avoid puckers, so I really took my time with this part of the bodice. I marked all stitching lines onto the fabric pieces before sewing and further interfaced the fabric where I slashed to ensure there wouldn't be any wardrobe malfunctions when wearing this dress.

I've tried to show you here how well I made these seams, can you tell how excited I am at how good they look?? They are a little lost in the fabric, but at least I know if I were to make this again in a lighter or solid fabric, they would look good.

Modifications made to the pattern:
 - I made a size 12, grading up the waist for fitting purposes and very slightly reducing the bust size.
 - I forgot to grade up the top of the skirt!! doh! So there should be a few more gathers, but it still looks nice.
 - I shortened the skirt quite a bit, which meant I lost the vent. To remedy this, I created my own small vent just incase I need to move in a hurry when I wear this.
 - I shortened the sleeves a little, forming a traditional hem to match the width of the top stitching, rather than using bias facing to finish the sleeves.
 - I used an invisible zipper, only because it was all that I had on hand.

Back view with super neat invisible zipper, installed correctly first time!

So this is my modern adaptation of a vintage wiggle dress. I just adore it, but I don't know where I will wear it. It's very corporate and a little dressy, probably not something to wear to the park with the kids! But hey, whatever, it was fun to make and looks awesome, well in my opinion anyway. Not all hobbies need to be practical.