This 1980’s pink lace dress has been hanging in my closet for a couple of years. It was donated by the lovely Art Deco Society Member Cheryl Stanton, who thought I might be interested in turning it into something more Art Deco. I’ve been quite busy, but had a vision of how it might turn out, just this weekend. Sometimes a dress just needs time to simmer for a while.

The lines of the dress are clearly 1980’s. It’s 100% Polyester and had a knit lining, with a zipper down the back. The shoulder pads were reminiscent of Alexis Carrington and the lace a classic look from that era.

My original idea was a bit vague and you can head over to instagram to hear me talk about my process a bit and what I was thinking, on my reels. Reels are a new thing for me so please keep that in mind. In any case, I thought:

• The front & back necklines should be more open and lower

• The sleeves should come off and be transformed into something at the neckline.

• The zipper should be removed

• The hemline and waistline should come up

• Maybe it should be a high/low dress that dips down in the back?

I started by removing the skirt, sleeves, lace and zipper, then went about trimming the neckline to the desired shape, mirroring it from side to side. Then I trimmed a shape on the waist seam, several inches above it’s original position at the front and blending it to remain as it was originally at the center back. The the skirt was re-stitched to the bodice and the lace attached to the bottom edge of the bodice overlay.

After taking apart the sleeves I draped them along the neckline starting at the shoulder and found that they made a lovely capelet. It was then trimmed and a little triangle sewn at the center back so it would be a continuous caplet without a space in the middle. At this point I was re-thinking the lace and the shape of the skirt at the seam. It still seemed too low and the lace really dated it.

In the end, I completely removed the lace and reworked the skirt more, making the dropped “Hi/Lo” waistline a bit higher than before as well as a bit more smooth. I made no modifications to the skirt, with the exception of restitching it onto the bodice a second time. The shape of the skirt really lent itself well to the bodice change, so I was in LUCK.

The neckline and armholes were finished with a binding made from the knit lining scraps that were left over and the binding was hand stitched in place to cover the raw edges. The bottom edge of the bodice was hemmed simply as well as the bottom edge of the capelet.

I think the thing that really pulled it together was the addition of the belt, which was common in the late 1920’s and into the 1930’s. My friend Jonathan gave me that tip a while ago. I was lucky enough to have enough lace left over but not enough pink lining so I dug into my stash for some pink fabric to back the belt with and also found a nice shell buckle. If you want to see the dress in action, check out the video below.

I’m pretty pleased with the result! And think it will make a terrific dress for the ADSC Gatsby Summer Afternoon, which is coming up in just a few weeks on Sunday September 11th. The dress is now in my Etsy Shop if you are interested. It’s about a size 10 but has some stretch and is very comfortable.

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

xo Jennifer