Another take on the yellow suit from "Pin-up girl"

[frualeydis]

When I first got interested in sewing and wearing the fashions of the 20th century I bought a couple of DVDs with musicals from the 1940s and '50s (I have many more now). I love musicals, especially the cheerful type, so that seemed like a reasonable buy. On of the films was "Pin-up Girl" with Betty Grable, from 1944 and I've seen it many, many times, always bursting out " I want that" when seeing the costumes of the main character and her friend. I've now made a Pinterest board with stills from the movie too. I made my first try at recreating the yellow suit four years ago, despite not finding anything remotely like the right fabric. You can see it here at my web page. The fabric in the suit was a cotton twill and the fit wasn't right, since I wanted to be able to close the jacket and also cut it too much after my shape; the original is probably not curved at all. On the other hand it's very hard to make this kind of jacket when you have a large bust.

A few years ago I found a better fabric for the suit: a mix of viscose and polyester with a great drape and a few weeks ago, in the beginning of May, I made a new version of the suit and a new blouse. The blouse is made in a reproduction of the cotton print used in the movie and it's from Spoonflower, and made by Charlotte, who has the blog Tuppence Ha'penny. This time the blouse is less like the original though, since it has a drawstring around the neckline instead of being gathered and having a piece of ribbon sewn over the gathers. I didn't feel like doing extra hand sewing at the time and I also didn't have a ribbon in the right colour at home.

I am of course much fatter than Betty Grable, but you can't let things like that stop you.

Comments

[zaftig46.livejournal.com]

I like your version better!

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

Then my first version or than hers?

/Eva

[zaftig46.livejournal.com]

Than hers!!

[merastra.livejournal.com]

Both of your versions are cute. I do like it with the red shoes better. The original is more of a power suit with those padded shoulders.

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

I _wanted_ it to have wider shoulders, but apparently one shoulder pad wasn't enough.

/Eva

[starlightmasque.livejournal.com]

You look awesome!

...and thanks for the Betty Grable comment, I needed to hear that!

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

I've never seen the movie, so thanks to the link to the stills. That is an awesome suit. I, too, am struck by the shoulder pads. They are almost '80s power suit in their dimensions! I think you're right: you would need more than one. I remember cutting shoulder pads out of a jacket in the mid '90s to make it look less dated and realizing that, yes, there were two on each side! (I also remember being a male classmate teasing some of the girls by poking and their shoulders and saying, "Yep, gotta be prepared. You never know when you might need to jump into a football game.")