1950's House Dress

I finished my 1950's House dress.  It's very comfortable, and was easy to make....I seem to be all about comfortable clothing these days.  The older I get, the less uncomfortable I want to be. 

Here's a close up of the neckline detail.  I decided to make it a little different from the original, adding in the pleated ruffles out of the fashion fabric, and some green bias tape trim.  I thought it would jazz the dress up a bit.  I used the same green bias tape to trim the sleeves as well.

I could have made the skirt a little fuller at the hem-line....and probably would have given the chance to do it over again....to give it a bit more flare.  I used the fashion fabric, and some sturdy cotton that I had in my stash, to create a 'quilted' effect on the belt.  I chose to not make the belt too fussy, using only snaps to close it...I wouldn't want to draw unnecessary attention to my not-in-the-least-waspish-waistline.  I'm struggling a little with the whole "Aunt Bea" image in my head.....but, I AM happy with the way it turned out, and so is my husband (he said he likes the silhouette)....so that's all that matters, right?

I don't know if you can see the shoes well, but the heels that I am wearing are one of my favorite pair of shoes.  I bought them almost 15 years ago, in high school, and paid a pretty penny for them at the time.  Because they were so expensive, I remember thinking as a teenager, "I better wear these babies until they rip apart at the seams!"  And....well....I have, only they haven't ripped apart yet.  They are super sturdy!  And cute too...they have sort of that vintage feel to them, almost echo-ing the 'teens' era.  I got them back in the late 90's when "Titanic" was a huge hit, and a lot of the clothes in stores at the time were vaguely reminiscent of that era.  Anyway, they have that classic feel to them, and I hope to get many more years of wear out of them.

Even though this dress is supposed to be a "house dress"....I'm not sure that I'm going to be doing house chores in it.  I'll teach in it, but I can't picture myself dusting, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms, etc in it.  Did they really do all that is such a dress?  Ah, well, I guess they did...the things women do for fashion...at least there's no corset involved!