Wow! I can’t believe it actually happened! Gatsby Summer Afternoon was in full swing last Sunday and it was so much fun. There was a collective feeling of joy throughout the event and I couldn’t have had a better time.

Not so many photos were taken before my camera died. It was for the best, actually, as I was better able to connect with my friends and enjoy myself. Above you can see our tiny picnic table. It’s the table I bring every year. Maybe It will get an update, but for now, it still makes for a pretty little vignette. There was a potluck and I lucked out on all the tasty treats including deviled eggs, arugula and peach salad, corn avocado salad, cucumber sandwiches and fresh berries.

But The Gatsby Summer Afternoon isn’t really about the food, at least not for me. It’s about the friends. All my wacky and wonderful friends who like to get dressed up and even make their own outfits for this event. Both my friends Jone and Dottie, pictured above made One Hour Dresses for themselves. Dottie’s is made from a cross stitched bedspread and Jone’s from a fine linen.

I ventured away from our picnic to visit Lisa and Robb who had a glorious Blue and Cream tent that Robb actually built himself. They are an amazing Can-Do couple for sure! Lisa’s true vintage black floral chiffon dress matched her hat perfectly. So impressive. In the photo above you will also see me standing with Halsey in a blue and white lounge pajamas. Check out her Instagram to see her outstanding vintage mending and restoration projects.

Now on to my Dress!

It all started with the fabric. It came from Telalinda Vintage Reproduction fabrics and it’s a 1930’s print called Irma. Printed on the softest fabric, I was determined to make a dress. So I started by sifting through all my patterns and landed on this 1930’s Day Dress with puff sleeve option (#T7357) from Vintage Pattern Lending Library. I had some contrasting pale yellow fabric that I thought might coordinate nicely , for the puff sleeve/lantern sleeve version. But in the end, I changed my mind and found a soft orange that made the petals in the fabric pop even more.

After tackling the front pleat and finishing all the edges of the pieces with zig zag, I moved on to the front tie and facing.

After the facings were stitched onto the front edge on ton the wearer’s right side, the two facings were connected at the point/edge where they met.

It’s a wee bit hard to see from the photos , but the right panel sits over the left and then the two are stitched together from the waist up to the point of the opening. I had made this same pattern up before, as a blouse a few years ago and you may be able to see how it comes together more clearly in this post:

http://www.thesewingroomalameda.com/blog/2017/12/5/december-red-a-red-wool-1930s-ensemble

The dress is coming together, but the sleeves are starting to make me giggle a bit.

Then came time to choose the trims. Would it be orange buttons and buckle or green? And another idea emerged as I stepped back from the dress. What if I took off the bottom of the sleeve and make it a flutter sleeve instead of a lantern? I reached out to the Vintage community on Instagram and asked for their opinions. The answer was a resounding orange for the trims and flutter sleeve with contrast trim for the sleeve. I don’t remember asking them about the contrast finish, but It was a good idea so I went with it.

I removed the orange lantern sleeve, cut some bias forr the trim and stitched ti on with a 1/4” clean finished binding around the flutter edge. Perfect!

This hat was commissioned to coordinate with my dress and was made by my Kimberly Manning Aker who does all sorts of these fabulous hats as well as interior design & authoring the book, Where Two Streams Join.

If you are interested in her hats, you can join her Facebook group - the Napperon Milliner

Here are the details for this entire ensemble:

Dress Pattern - 1930s Ladies Day Dress With Puff Sleeve Option - 1933 Art Deco Reproduction Sewing Pattern #T7357 - Vintage Pattern Lending Library

Dress Fabric - Print - Nina from Telalinda Reproduction Fabrics, Solid - Cotton remnant from The Sewing Room

Buttons - The buttons used are from The Recrafting Company here, in Alameda, however I sourced many buttons on Etsy using the following stellar sellers:  

Boysenberry Accessory,  Wa Tur Hill Creations, Veraviola

Buckle - Vintage Green Clothing on E

Hat - Kimberly Manning Aker - Napperon Milliner

Hand Crochet Gloves - Moodswing, 2707 Encinal Ave. Alameda  Open 2-5 Tue-sun

Shoes (not shown) - Cassandra in Navy combo from Remix Vintage Shoes

Underwear, girdlette and stockings  (also not shown) - What Katie Did US

Thank you for making it this far! I really enjoyed making this dress and hope it inspires you to make something too!

Until Next Time,

XoJennifer