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Way back in February, I took the Vintage Pattern Pledge and promised I would sew up at least five vintage patterns this year. And I added that I wanted to make one from each decade from the 1920′s to the 1970′s.

So far, I haven’t done anything yet. I could make excuses, but I guess it’s more important and more interesting to get started. And I’ve decided to start with the decade which is the most alien to me, and probably the least suited to my body type: the 1920′s. My one source of patterns for this era is a big pile of sewing magazines called Gracieuse. They are kind of like Burdastyle magazine today except that only a selection of the designs from each issue is included on the pattern sheet, and each pattern is in one size only. And the pattern sheets are endlessly more difficult to trace and the instructions are rudimentary at best.

Anyway, I’ve looked through all the issues from the 1920′s and picked out the designs I like. The ‘long list’ is on my blog but I’ll show you my favorites here. These are not only my favorites because I like their look but also because I think they could be made from fabrics I have in my stash and I could wear them straight away.

These are all very lovely, but the one on the right with its clean lines is my favorite.

Here, I’m looking at the third dress.

In this picture, it’s the first one. Now that looks like a real flapper dress.

And here it’s the first one but without the cape.

As you can see, all the dresses on my ‘shortlist’ are more or less party dresses and I don’t really mind about that. The 1920′s silhouette is way out of my comfort zone so I thought I would just start with something I love the idea of and then see if it will work for me. Looking at these four, the choice seems to be between a fairly quiet or a more eye-catching one…

What do you think?

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