Mad Men Dress

Firstly I must confess that I have NEVER watched an episode of this Television program and I have no idea what it is about.  The only thing I know is that the story is set inside an office.  Oh, and that the female characters all wear LOVELY dresses.  And that is the only reason I participated in this challenge - a chance to admire everybody's dresses and to have a go at making a 1960s dress for myself.

And here it is!  I am trying to pose like Joan in the inspiration dress.

                 
   

 

 
   
   
   
   
   
   



As you can see, my dress is definitely lower in the bust (thank goodness for the dickie!) and definitely far wider in the collar, but I really wanted to have a try at this pattern and I thought nobody would mind if I did an "inspired by / homage" instead of a "replica" dress.  Plus, the pleated skirt suits my current figure better rather than Joan's tight-fitting skirt.

I used Butterick 5747, which is part of Butterick's Retro 1960 re-released pattern collection.

Here are a few photos of some of the details:

This is the front waist band.  I accidentally neglected to cut the waist band pattern piece to the correct size and ended up making the largest size.  I didn't even notice until I was handsewing the band facing down.  But I kind of like it, in a way it looks a bit like a belt.

This is the back - the sleeves have a slight curve out under the arm which I quite like too.  And of course I love the pleats!  There are even pleats covering the side seams!
(Gosh - I'm so peely wally!)
And here is a quick photo of how I will probably really wear this dress in real life.  With such a cold Spring so far, a long sleeved top underneath it will be mandatory.

sorry for the poor lighting
 - it's still cold and grey here in Scotland.

I wore it again on a sunnier day!

This dressmaking challenge has been hosted by Julia Bobbin. I am really looking forward to seeing everybody else's dresses in one of her upcoming blog posts! The BIG REVEAL is posted here!