I have three cousins getting married in the next few months. Luckily, I am running out of cousins to marry off because I can barely keep up with the sewing.
I had to be realistic and accept that I had procrastinated too long and frittered away too much time on non-necessary projects, and I wouldn’t be able to complete a full dress for the first wedding. I’m old-fashioned enough that I feel a bit weird wearing black to weddings, especially summer weddings, but . . . oh, well. It was time to trot out the black skirts and settle for making a new blouse.
I picked one that looked comfortable but also looked like it couldn’t have too many fitting issues. Advance 4858 is from 1947 or 1948:
Classic postwar design: Extended shoulder line, long waist, big skirt.
The red flags were length (easily remedied; I always have to add length) and neckline (thin shoulders; boat necks and I do not get along. But necklines are also easily altered). I decided I’d switch to a back-button closure because I seem to be going through that kind of a phase (see the Simplicity 4727: Black sundress post below) and make the whole thing into a peplum blouse.
It didn’t need a lot of help–I lengthened it a little, closed up the neckline some, and changed the button opening, but the bodice itself was basically fine.
I completely winged it on the peplum: I drew a rectangle (two, actually, front and back) that matched the waist circumference, then slashed and fanned it out until it looked the way I wanted. And that was it.
In fact, it was so OK that I put the entire thing together without a hitch despite the fact that my copy of the pattern has no instruction sheet.
And here it is. Sorry, my hair won’t do anything. I live in braids.
The fit is a little blousy but I think that’s intentional. It also has massive shoulder pads. They look less ridiculous here than I thought they did, actually.
The necklace is a double-strand of faceted crystals that belonged to my grandmother.
Close-up of the back with the awesome huge iridescent plastic buttons:
The fabric is, as usual, cotton. I had originally chosen a purple stylized floral but then decided it was too funereal. It was also an out-of-print remnant and I didn’t think I had enough, and couldn’t get any more. I’m not wild about splattery magenta prints but at least it was happier. (Don’t get me wrong: I love me some funereal fabric, but it wasn’t my wedding, right?)
