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

April 21, 2013 · by tanya maile · in Retro Garments. ·

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.