Simplicity 3106 - vintage 1930s dress

I picked up this pattern while I was in New York City earlier in the year. I haven't been able to find many 1940s, let alone 1930s patterns in New Zealand. So even though this wasn't anywhere near my size, I thought I would give pattern grading a go.

I'm not sure that I'll do it again anytime soon!

I actually started this pattern last year, before I packed up all of my things and moved moved house. I graded the pattern, tested it with a couple of mockups, then cut everything out (how many times will I learn that I should stop cutting dresses out of multiple layers of light, slippery fabrics?).

After that everything went away into a box and I didn't take it out again until the new year. When I finally picked it up again, I was left with a pattern I vaguely recognised, and I had marked some of the darts so poorly I think I ended up with an inch of excess fabric across the shoulder. It was a nightmare!

Fortunately I persevered, and actually ended up with something I'm very proud of. I won't be going over every little step here, but I will point out some new techniques I tried as well as the difficulties I faced with this project.

Self covered buttons with two layers of light fabrics

The first time I tried I ended up throwing the unfinished button across the room. When you have light silk chiffon over acetate lining you're going to have a bad time - everything kept slipping, and the older button kit I was using was a lot more fiddly than the newer kits you can buy today.

With a trick of my own and a trick from @luckynumbervintage, I came up with a solution that allowed me to zip right through the buttons (is that a closure pun?!).

I sandwiched some very lightweight, double-sided fusing between the two layers, then cut the circles out slightly bigger than the template. This made everything a breeze! Honestly wishing it was feasible to do this to the entire garment...

Sewing pleats with slippery, double-layered fabric

I'm not sure exactly where I found this tip, somewhere on the internet. The trick is to first sew a line of straight stitching down the centre of the dart. This stabilises everything so it doesn't slip around and pucker while you sew it together.

Tiny hems on lightweight, slippery fabric

Okay, this was an absolute mission and I hated almost every minute of it!

The best thing I found to help was to press a 1/4" in before sewing the rolled hem, and then going very slowly. The result was acceptable, but not exactly perfect.

Pattern review

The pattern itself was very good. The instructions were detailed and precise, without being bogged down unnecessarily. I've found a lot of newer patterns contain instructions on how to do every little thing, right down to seams and how to press material and attach interfacing.

In summary

I'm very happy with the result. Despite the trickiness in sewing it all together (blasted overlays - but they look so pretty...) I think it all came together rather well. I'll be wearing this for the Art Deco Festival in Napier this February. I've bought a few accessories already!

I'll be sure to make this dress again, but probably in a different fabric - one less likely to slip around while cutting it out. If you ever see this pattern in your size, be sure to snap it up!

Update June 2018

I have no idea what happened to the formatting on the photos above but I'm too lazy to fix them. Here are some photos from Art Deco Weekend showcasing this dress.