The Mad Men Challenge: A Little Bit of Betty and a Little Bit of Joan

I have had this dress done for a few weeks now.  I made this dress for Julia Bobbin’s Mad Men Challenge.  I was excited to make a dress for this challenge as Mad Men is one of my favorite shows and I love early 60s styles, but I also wanted to use fabric from my stash and not go out and buy fabric specifically for a dress.  Betty Draper is my most hated character on the show, but she also tends to be my favorite as far as fashion goes, so it’s a little bit of a quandary.  I could not find a photo of her in a dress in fuschia as it’s not a color in her fashion palette, but it IS a color in Joan Holloway’s closet!

Betty Draper

Joan Holloway

So here’s my version of a mesh of the two using fabric and a vintage Vogue pattern in my stash.

Vintage Vogue 8780

I used Vintage Vogue 8789 paired with a fuschia Calvin Klein rayon/acetate faille (bought at Fabric Mart last year for $2.99/yd).  I lined the bodice with cotton batiste (I hate facings!) and have on a black net (and very uncomfortable) petticoat that i had made for another dress.  This is a fun dress and not sure when or where I will wear it again due to the brightness.  I also wish the bodice length was longer, so if I made this pattern again, I would lengthen it.  I probably would make a sash tie belt instead of the cummerbund from the pattern and I think this pattern would be best in a lighterweight fabric.

This is the second dress that I wore for the pin up photos that i took last weekend.

Vintage Vogue 8789

Vintage Vogue 8789

And no one ever gets to see the lovely quirkiness that is my Betsy Johnson vintage-y frames, so I took this self photo to share. 🙂

mrs hughes

Happy Sewing!!

Dress:  Vintage Vogue 8789 in Calvin Klein rayon/acetate faille, made by me

Petticoat:  Simplicity 5006 in black netting, made by me

Shoes:  Nicole Miller

Jewlery:  Vintage 1950s/60s from my grandmother