Fairy Godmother

It took me around 12 hours to make this outfit. Give or take an hour or two - I had to jump up and down quite a lot. I also had to think a bit on how some of this was going to go together. This is the end of my work in progress dress to wear as godmother to baby Declan.

I had originally copied this pattern from the original that someone let me borrow once. I had few directions and knew that I was going to have to tweak this in order to make it fit right. I used an inexpensive poly stretch pinstripe that worked out pretty well. I would have rather used a nice wool blend, but I had 0 time to shop for this and used what I had. I also had no time for a mock up - but knowing what I know about these old patterns and patterns in general, I added seam allowance at all seams and because I'm 5'11", I added 4 extra inches to the skirt and 2 extra inches to the peplum just in case. I made the skirt fuller and I also dropped the waist an inch because even though I am fairly short waisted, it would have looked really odd to have such a short waist and such long legs - despite that this is how models are drawn on these pattern jackets.

I reinforced the bodice at the bust esp. because I was using a stretch fabric. I dropped the neckline about 2 inches so that it wouldn't look so matronly - which actually turned out looking more like the pattern illustration than if I had left it alone (tip for everyone - the necklines usually always have to be dropped to look more flattering - unless you are into the matronly look)

The outfit went together very easily once I fitted it to myself. I did have to take in the waist a lot more than I had estimated because of the stretch factor, but I'm glad I cut it a little big anyway - because when in a hurry, more is better. You can always take it in or hem it up. I also added steel boning to the front and back in the darts because it kept the waistline from bunching (and I was afraid that since I did not flat line the bodice, this might be the case) You can always use that nylon boning, but I dont like it.

I ended up binding the hem, sleeves and peplum with strips of bias binding that I cut from the same fabric. This went very quickly for me - much quicker than the hand hemming that I would have done - and it gave a nice, modern, finished look.

I also made the front of the skirt shorter - under the knee - and left the back long. I thought this was the most modern and flattering rendition of a vintage look.

I added a hook and a velvet bow at the neck. I threw on some little vintage buttons at the sleeve and bodice - and voila! It didnt look half bad. I even serged all the inside seams and made it nice which is something I dont always do on my own stuff.

Im really not suffering from jaundice. I tweaked these photos because my camera wasnt going to show any detail otherwise!

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