Eva's journal

As I wrote in yesterday's post I had a wool dress in 1930s' style which had got a moth hole right in front on the tummy. The "Make Do and Mend" challenge gave me the kick in the butt I needed to do somethign woth it, except packing it down for summer and packing it up for winter. I made the new skirt from a wool twill that I bought from a friend a couple of years ago when she sold out most of her fabric stash. To tie the two pieces of the dress together visually I also made a new collar (as you can se in the post below it had a white cotton collar) from the blue wool and made patch pockets from remnants of the glencheck wool used in the bodice and sleeves. This time I made the skirt shorter, to the, to me, more flattering "little-above-the-knee" length of the 1940s.
From the lower part of the original skirt, which didn't have moth holes I made a skirt for Valeria. I feel very thrifty.



( More photos )
The Challenge: # 1 Make Do and Mend
Fabric: 100% Wool tabby and wool twill
Pattern: Not as such, it started its life as a '70s pattern, but has been heavily re-made to a) fit me and b) to give it more of a 40's style. You can see here another example of how I changed this "1970s does 1940s pattern" into a 40s dress.
Year: ca 1940-44. Typical for the war years with its combining of materials and rather short skirt.
Notions: Four plastic buttons, a zipper for Valeria's (modern) skirt
How historically accurate is it? Wool was a common dress amterial in the 1940s, unlike now, so the materials are good. It has machined button holes, which wasn't common in home made clothing and the plastic buttons are probably from another type of plastic than the one used then. While the pattern is from the 1970s it has been changed enough to make the pieces look like what you can find in an original 1940s pattern. The sleeves are taken from an original 1940s pattern too. Mixing fabrics like this gives it a very authentic look for the war years (at least in Europe) where every scrap available was used. I have studied many sewing patterns and Swedish women's magazines from the period and I think this would pass without comment or notice. (The magazine on the "old" photo is one of the leading Swedish women's magazines, from 1945)
Hours to complete: Not many, maybe five, including Valeria's skirt.
First worn: For photos I wore it today, but since I'm at home recovering from a hole in my duodenum, surgery and four weeks in hospital it may be a while before I wear it "officially". It will be great for work when I get back though.
Total cost: Nothing now, since everything is from stash, nothing newer than two years old. However, if I try to remember the price of the two fabrics I would end up with c. 150 SEK for fabric, which is about 29 USD, and then 20 SEK for a zipper (for Valeria's skirt) and 16 SEK for the buttons, so in all ca 35 USD. The lining in Valeria's skirt was scraps I can't calculate the value of.