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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Summertime 1950's Style

I was beyond excited when I found out this month's theme day at school was 1950's. Totally up my alley and I'd just been waiting for my day to shine. :p I mentally examined my 'vintage' wardrobe. Nothing popped out as something I would be interested wearing. lol Yeah that's me....
I recalled this adorable dress I'd found on pinterest some months ago. After some voting and digging I decided to go ahead and try my hand at it and found the perfect springy/summerish material.
Vintage 1950s Orange and Pink Dress
Cute right?!
 I used a very simple bodice pattern - Simplicity 1873. Size 12 fit almost perfect I did have to take like 2 inches out on the side seams, but the rest fit.. lol I hate that I have to make such big sizes these days. Lawd.
The front "scarf" detail is just 4 ish inch wide strips cut on the bias. And the ends are angled. It doesn't cap my shoulder quite` like the original seems to be, but alas I am happy.
The skirt was 3 panels the full width of my fabric so probably around 125" circumference. Simply gathered at the waist. 
The back collar was a bit trickier just because I was careless and got one point way longer then the other. Making the piece itself wasn't to bad - just made angled lines and away we went.
I whipped the dress out in about a day. The crinoline however took a tad longer mainly due to cutting and procuring the materials.
I set my hair in sponge rollers the night before. I was extremely pleased with the result. All I did was unroll them on the way to school and ruffle the crown of my head up a bit to be rid of any disturbing partings and threw on bit of firm hold hair spray. These pictures were taken after a full day of wear. So needless to say the curls stayed in fabulously.

The crinoline is 3 layers. 3 tiers each. The bottom tier is 8 yards in circumference, the 2nd 4 yards and the top 2 yards. I was unsure if it was full enough - mainly at the top. I wanted a nice feminine bell shape rather then a triangle. After seeing it all together I think its satisfactory. Its obviously very simple in design. This is the original I was aiming for. And this tutorial is very very similar... Certainly wasn't my favorite thing to work on. So monotonous and the amount of ribbon & thread I used was unbelievable!  
My beloved Aris Allen dance shoes! Love them bad boys - makes me so happy everytime I get the opportunity to break them out. 
Pearls of course. They seem so cliche, but totally completed the ensemble if you ask me. 
I took a very simplistic approach with my make up. Super light blush, 2 different shades of light brown eyeshadows, and Rimmel gel eyeliner which is the best thing ever for wings and such. I did fill my brows a bit believe it or not. I'm apparently not capable of having high arches tho. Which is rather dissapointing. lol I  somehow managed to loose my red lipstick during the night so I was forced to improvise alittle till I could get my hands on some. And then I walked out with 3 different ones cause I couldn't decide which shade I like best. lol Girls problems...I swear.
 Anyhow this is super helpful for someone who wishes to achieve something similar. 

And that's that. I now have a cute, fluffy little 50's dress to wear anytime I please!!!!! It was a great success at school as well. Yay for a victory!

Love,
Brooke

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh wow! I like that dress a lot! :) You look really good in vintage makeup, too! ;) Very nice, Brooke

Love,
Ruth

Lauren said...

WOW! You know how I love 1950s outfits and I've recently been looking at collar details myself! This is adorable, and your make up and hair color go so nicely with it. I hope you got some cute pics with your classmates! I've often wondered if dance shoes are better than regular ones. Since you've got some daily aches and pains, would you say that these heels are any less painful than your other non-dance heels? I've been curious about this for years!

Brooke said...

Thank you so much, Ruth!!! :)

Lauren, I don't have a definite answer for the dance shoes vs. non dance shoes thing. These aren't horridly uncomfortable. Really the main issue I prolly have is that I have the flattest feet ever and when I stand for long periods of time with out my normal support i really feel it.. Its probably one of those cases where you get what you pay for these were relatively expensive. I almost never buy expensive shoes. lol But in conclusion I would say these are at least a bit better then average shoes.. those slick on the soles as they are suede.

Love,
Brooke

Atlanta said...

Really adorable!

Anonymous said...

Have you gone to any events lately?
-Jill