Mrs. Hughes

Retro Inspired Sewing

You are here: Home / Retro Garments / A Pink Gingham ESP Dress

A Pink Gingham ESP Dress

pink gingham 1

Hi there, friends!

All the gingham. All the time.  And all the ESP dresses. 🙂

Yes, it’s another ESP dress and another gingham dress.  But I don’t have a pink gingham one and I’m currently swooning over these large checked ginghams.  I really cannot get enough.

Source: Decades of Style Patterns

As I’ve stated in a previous post, I’m really happy that gingham is stylish and “in” now as I can find it in a plethora of colors.  I purchased this pink gingham from Harts Fabric.  I don’t think I see the exact one on the site that I used, but here are some similar ones.  Harts has updated their site since I bought this and I can no longer see my order history.  This fabric is a really nice quality gingham that’s more like a shirting weight than a quilting cotton.

pink gingham 2

I made this dress in a day and never even put it on my dress form, so the only pics I have of the inside or details are flat.  I lined the skirt with cotton batiste and used the facings for the bodice.  I understitched and pinked the facings.  I only planned on pattern matching the gingham on the back and side seams, but ended up vaguely attempting it on the raglan sleeves.  When I sew the ESP dress, I usually cut the sleeves on the bias, but I didn’t have enough fabric to do so with this dress, and after sewing one sleeve on and finding that I accidentally matched up some of them, I worked on the other side.  It does look a bit better than the left side on the pic below.  It appears that I don’t have the dress laying completely flat in the photo.

DSCN3795

I did my usual alterations to this dress — grading up, a swayback adjustment (although there still seems to be some back wrinkles…), adding some length to the skirt and using an invisible zip.  In addition, I also cut a fuller skirt (this fabric is 50″ or more in width) and lowered the neckline.

back

I didn’t take a pic of the hem, but I had some 1/4″ vintage horsehair braid and I sewed it into my skirt hem.  It’s sewn into the fold of the hem, so it’s completely hidden and adds a little bit of fullness to the 1960’s style dress.

pink gingham esp dress

Obviously into pink and gold.

This is one of my favorite dresses that I’ve made.  I just love wearing it.  The only thing I’m planning to do with it is to add some thread belt loops to keep my belt at the waistline.

pink gingham 3

I want some pink and green chairs.

These photos were taken during my husband’s and I’s stay at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo for our wedding anniversary trip.  These photos in particular are up by the pool.  Oh, how I loved swimming in that heated infinity pool!  Anyway, I don’t know why I’m not smiling in these…. My husband took them and he hates taking these photos, so I imagine there’s that….. The next blog post will have photos where I don’t look unhappy (and he took those)!

pink gingham 4

I feel like I’m in Rivendale.

Happy Sewing!

poppy signature

  • Dress:  Decades Everyday ESP Dress in pink cotton gingham, made by me
  • Belt:  Macy’s
  • Shoes:  Saltwater Sandals
  • Earrings:  Erstwilder
  • Sunglasses:  Tory Burch

Comments

  1. As I said on IG, I need to duplicate this dress or sneak into your house and steal it. 😉 Duplicating might be easier, but plan B means I get to see you! Hehehe.

    Gorgeous dress! <3 <3

  2. Another beautiful dress. When I was in primary school, my school uniform was a red/pink gingham dress. I wish it looked half as cute as yours!

    Also – love the header for your blog. I think its new (if not feel free to ignore me) and it really is lovely.

  4. Nailed it again Tanya! I’m seriously considering changing the dress code at work to ‘The boss gets to wear whatever she likes’ just so I can make one of these dresses…….although I might need to wait until it’s over 1 degree! Love the pinking…. I don’t think I’ve seen a set of pinking shears since I was learning sewing at school!!

  5. I like everything about it. It’s a very strawberry pink,which looks lovely on you. I like the longer fuller hemline. I made my self a gingham brown skirt on the bias. I like it too. Gingham rules.

    • Thank you, Bonnie! I, too, prefer the longer/fuller skirt. Your skirt sounds lovely. I’ve seen some beautiful dresses lately with bias cut gingham.

  6. I understand your love for gingham. I’m loving gingham too! Never thought I would buying some for myself. Waiting on the postman patiently… lol. Your beautiful gingham dresses remind me of summertime, lemonade, picnics, and childhood memories.

    • I’m so glad it’s in style as I don’t feel so much like Dorothy or a country bumpkin while wearing it. 🙂 My husband actually called this one a “picnic dress”. He probably meant that I look like a picnic table. lol

  8. 1. Love this dress! I love it in gingham – it’s totally adorable! I can see this being the perfect Holiday dress in a plaid taffeta. Thanks for the idea!
    2. Love the new blog header!
    3. Happy Anniversary – I hope your trip was fabulous!
    g

    • Thanks, G!! It really would be pretty in a plaid taffeta. I really like it with the horsehair braid in the hem. It would be cool to make a fuller skirt for a holiday dress, wouldn’t it? 🙂

      And thank you!!! (2 & 3) 🙂

  9. Tanya, this is so cute. I was never really a gingham fan either, which has probably more to do with the fact that every other school in Barbados uses some colour gingham in its uniforms than the actual pattern itself. But I saw this gorgeous purple one on Mood and of course, now I’m all about the gingham too! Oh and I’m loving the new blog look, chica!

    • I can definitely understand that, especially if you had to wear it for your school uniform! What are you planning to make with your purple gingham? I have some vintage purple gingham similar in size to this pink one that I got from my mom’s stash. I haven’t decided what to make with it yet.

  10. Just a beautiful dress. Normally see your posts via bloglovin so only just seen your new blog look … lovely! Every time I see one of your ESP dresses I get the hankering to make one. I now own the pattern 😉

    • Thanks, T! I actually just did a bit of a blog redesign the other day. 🙂 I think you’ll like the ESP dress. It’s a perfect canvas for prints, doesn’t use much yardage, and is quick to make.

  11. I am really starting to love the ESP pattern. I have fallen deeply in love with every single version of the pattern you’ve made. It’s moving its way up the “to buy and then quickly sew” pile rather quickly.

Behind the Scenes on Instagram @tanyamaile

Copyright 2012-2019. Tanya Maile Hughes. All rights reserved. Please do not copy or reproduce any content from this site without approval and credit. Sewing graphics by katieshoestring and California poppy graphics by DigitalDesignsAndArt

Mrs. Hughes: A retro inspired, vintage garment sewing and plus-size dressmaking blog by Tanya Maile Hughes.