With the Art Deco Society of California’s Gatsby Summer Afternoon right around the corner, I’ve been planning the outfit I’ll wear this time around. I’ve also been taking a little tour of Gatsby Afternoons I’ve attended in the past. They were filled with friends, fashion and a maybe bit of Champagne. I’ll warn you in advance, some of the photos are a little fuzzy. One can still see how much fun we had, however, so I hope you can enjoy.

I can’t remember exactly when I started going, but it was probably around the year 2000. I attended one year with my friend Grace (pictured in Peach), having made both of our dresses. My dress was mint green chartreuse silk with silver trim and beads appliqued around the neckline. It was actually a bit more of an evening dress, the way I had it styled, and it underwent several variations over the years. Grace looked perfect in her peach chiffon and coordinating true vintage hat.

After my daughter was born, probably in 2004, I went to Gatsby with my friend Dolin. This is one of the only time my dress was true vintage. And so was Dolin’s. We bought them both, while together, at a vintage shop on College Avenue in Oakland. Amazingly, they were both affordable and fit us! Yay!

This was the year of black and white for both Dolin & Myself (she’s not pictured in these photographs) as well as our friend Tamara. We even won an honorable mention for small picnic. I made my hat and my dress. This dress has served me well and has been worn to several events.

I wore that dress to Gatsby at least one other time. Here you can see grace and Dolin again. Grace in true Vintage and Dolin in her own creation sewn from a Folkwear pattern.

As Emma grew up, she accompanied me to the picnic. A good friend left these two coordinating Plise floral dresses, on my front doorstep. They needed some mending but fit us both perfectly. arent we cute in our matching dresses?

The photo of me in a brown eyelet dress (pictured with Tamara) is actually current, but it’s the only photo I can find of that dress. I made it in 2010 and wore it to a wedding and Gatsby both in the same year. I wish I could find the photos for that year. The following year, I wore a Blue lace true vintage dress and I can’t find the photos of that either. Searching for the photos was driving me a bit bonkers…it’s really quite a bummer because I made the hat I wore with the blue dress and now that hat is missing in action as well.

The cream colored dress was made in a weekend from a vintage silk table cloth. It’s still one of my favorite dresses as it is quite roomy and breezy and a little bohemian at the same time. It is basically a big rectangle with a hole cut out in the middle. pleats on the shoulders and sewn up inside the edges for side seams. Who wants to learn how to make a 20’s dress out of a table cloth?

The next year, inspired by Phryne Fisher’s wardrobe in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries I made a linen skirt and printed lawn jacket, pairing the ensemble with a headband and polka dot top. The outfit worked, but then my mom got arrested. I can’t take her anywhere!

These photos are from 2017 and I’m pictured with two of my favorite Instagram compadres @TanyaMaile & @DuchessOfHutch. Both lades sewed their own dresses for the event as did I. Tanya even had a back up dress. It was a hot year. You can see the post for my dress here.

Last year, I worked to copy the dress pictured to the right. That’s my grandmother, in her modeling days. I’ve always adored that dress and got pretty close in my reproduction. There are things I would change if I make it again, but overall, I liked my finished look. You can read more about that post here.

This year, I bought a reproduction 1930’s print fabric from Telalinda. The dress I’ll be sewing, using the pictured dress from Wearing History. Still trying to decide about shoes as you can see, but the red ones will likely win the battle, even though I’ve been trying to send them back for days. My dear friend Kimberly Manning Aker is making me a hat out of a placemat. I’m very excited to see how it turns out.

The dress is cut out and ready to go. Hopefully I’ll squeeze a progress post in before the event.

Until Next Time, Happy Sewing!

xo Jennifer