A 1950’s Embroidered Peasant Dress

Yay! After over a year from planning to finishing — I’m finally done with this dress!

This dress was in my mind long before I found my vintage pattern.  I’ve been in love with 1950’s peasant dresses for a long time and now I have one perfectly suited for ME.  It’s like a dream that has come to fruition!

The pattern I used was Simplicity 3893, a vintage pattern from the 1950’s.  This was the same pattern that I demonstrated in my shift grading tutorial.  It’s a very simple dress that was super easy to sew.  What took a while was my embroidery — which I started after I had sewn my dress and before I added the elastic and the ruffled hem.

I made this dress out of a turquoise cotton broadcloth from Joann’s which worked as a great base for my embroidery.  This dress is unlined (I wore a light petticoat with it) and has elastic on the neckline and sleeves.

Pansy embroidery

I looked at a lot of photos of vintage dresses before I started my embroidery.  I decided to go for a simpler design rather than Mexican inspired embroidery and used my favorite flower — pansies.  I embroidered this freehand and didn’t draw the design out first on paper nor on my dress.  Before I started on this dress, I had not embroidered anything for many years, so I refreshed myself with some embroidery books.

I was always told that the insides are supposed to look as good as the outsides.  I think mine are fairly neat, although I know they could be better, but I am a bit lazy…. My grandparents have many embroidered linens from Spain and I’ve always admired the fine needlework and how perfect the work is.  I know I could do work like that, but yeah…. I’m still lazy….

This dress is extremely comfortable.  I mean, who would not be comfortable in a tent? 🙂  It’s definitely a dress that needs a belt!!  I thought about making a matching belt, but I had always planned on wearing this with a concho belt, so I made my dress more western than most 50’s patio dresses that I’ve seen.

I thought about doing embroidery above the bottom ruffle, but decided to just add a couple rows of ribbon.  After two months of embroidery, I was looking forward to being finished with this and wanted to move on to another project, so that idea was scrapped.

Of course, wearing a belt can make the hem uneven if you don’t get the gathers right on the bodice/waist.    I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have a defined waistline.

Yep… lots of photos. I am deliriously  with this dress and with my photos, so I’m including them. 🙂

I also made my concho belt, which is a super easy project.  I made this one last year, but I just got the materials to make another way, so I’ll be sharing a tutorial in the near future.

My bracelet is also a vintage 1950’s turquoise bracelet from the 1950s that was my grandma’s. 🙂

Happy Sewing!

• Dress:  vintage Simplicity 3893 in cotton broadcloth, made by me
• Belt:  suede leather and silver conchos, made by me
• Boots:  Justin Bent Rail
• Bracelet:  vintage 1950’s from my grandma’s collection
• Earrings:  gift from my mom