1920s DRESS REPRODUCTION – ELEGANT ENDEAVOR

For Casino Moderne 2012, I once again needed something to wear.  As I wasn’t excited by my dress from last year, I decided I wanted something I would be really happy with and not just something to wear.  Awhile back I saw a dazzling 1920s dress in daisyandstella’s Etsy shop that I was absolutely in lust with, but as it was an extra small/small, there was no way I could fit in it.  Made with black floral net and gold metallic lace with a silk slip underneath, it was just dreamy.  So I set my sights on using that dress as my inspiration for my 1920s dress reproduction.

 The original inspiration

After shopping around, I found a lace that I fell in love with.  The lace from the inspiration gown was much more sheer and delicate than the one I chose.  The paisley Alençon lace I found was dreamy and heavy and had a great hand to it.  I couldn’t find a gold lace that I was even remotely happy with, so I decided to use a lovely beaded black lace for the edging of my skirt.  Once I purchased the champagne silk charmeuse and some black lace banding, I was good to go.

Since there isn’t a pattern to perfectly match this dress, I adapted.  I used as my base pieces the 1920 dress with flounced skirt from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library.

I used the tunic top of the dress, sans sleeves, as the base for my lace blouson top. The silk slip I made from my usual slip pattern.  I had to make it as a bodice and skirt.  In that way, I could secure the longer lace tunic to the bottom of the shorter silk slip bodice.  This would allow the lace to blouson at the hip and stay in place.  I took the skirt pattern and extended the length quite a bit.  Once the panels were constructed I graded the length so it was shorter in front and longer in back.  The original dress looked like it was a straight panel, but I liked my skirt pattern had less bulk.  The last thing I need is more bulk around my hips.  I added the lace banding to the silk slip skirt and joined the lace skirt to the silk slip skirt at the top.  Once I had the top and bottom of the dress constructed, I joined the two with a silk and lace band.  The original dress had a posy of flowers on the center of the band.  As my lace edging on my skirt had beads, I decided to make a lace beaded motif as my center accent.