Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The 1941 Orange and Black Colour-Blocked Dress


Making a full colour-blocked dress has been on my list of dream 1940s makes for quite some time.  So glad I made it a reality!


The whole concept came about when I bought these two-coloured black and orange frog closures on a recent trip to Myanmar (I also bought some grey and light pink ones).  And when I was planning this dress, there was still several months to Halloween and this just seemed like the perfect holiday dress!


I used McCall 4092, a pattern from 1941 as it was the best pattern in my stash that had some clear lines that I thought might work for colour-blocking.


The skirt has eight gores and I ended up doing these in blocks of two so that they create a bit of a peak at the top.



I decided that it would probably be more slimming to put the darker colour on the outside of the skirt and also on the bodice and then do the details and sleeves in the contrast orange:


I'm a bit torn about whether to leave the bodice pockets on or take them off OR just take one of them off. As you can see, they are a bit uneven to the centre, this was the result of using the frogs instead of standard buttons (and probably also of not measuring correctly!) Hmmm...what do you think? I think it could look quite sleek without them?  OR I could take the frogs off and put on orange or even black buttons.


I found an online vintage hat reproduction seller, the Little Shop of Gorgeousness and Fripperies, who makes two-tone turbans and I asked if she could make an orange and black one and she said yes!  So I actually had the hat made first and then once it arrived, I went fabric shopping so that I could match the orange in the hat. It's close but not perfect as the dress fabric is a little bit lighter but I think it works well!


I also recently got these 1940s reproduction shoes from Aris Allen.  I decided to buy some orange ribbon and replace the standard black shoelaces with the matching ribbon. Ooooohhhh...it makes me so happy! :). I want to do this for all my dresses! lol.


Overall, I am quite pleased with the outcome. One thing with the frog closures is that they aren't as secure as buttons. So I had to also use a snap at the top and what I didn't realise is that I should have put one at the bottom of the waist front too.  So if I slouch, the bottom bit gapes open. Which is why I have such perfect posture in these photos! hahaha. I've since fixed it so that I can actually wear this dress!


Yay!!! I'm definitely in love with colour-blocking and many thanks to the amazingly talented Darja Biliyk for these photos that we took in the wee town of Culross in Scotland that just so happened to have lots of fabulous orange buildings!

Here's a short video of me doing a lot of happy dancing! lol


I definitely want to make more colour-blocked dresses--perhaps in pink and grey next? What colour combos do you think would look good?


Also, what do you think I should do about the pockets and the closures?
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1 comment

  1. I looooove the frogs! I would remove the pockets and let those frogs stand out even more!

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