Dress Like Your Grandma FINAL PROJECTS

Hello there!

What an amazing sewing challenge this has been!  I have loved seeing the cherished photographs and inspired makes from each and every participant in this challenge.  It’s been lovely getting to know all of these beautiful ladies and I’m so happy to share what they’ve made.  Thanks also to our generous sponsors!  I’ll be posting the winners of the random prize drawings on Wednesday (5/3).

As far as my own dress, I’ll posting that separately this week as well.  I got immersed in a very involved project that you may have seen on Instagram, and it took me much longer than I expected to complete it.  I’ll be sharing that with you soon!

And now…. what we’ve all been waiting for!

2017 Dress Like Your Grandma challenge entries

Alison

Evie

McCall’s 3610 from 1940, with my Nana in 1940 on the left

Melissa

It’s not something my grandma wore but I had fun re-creating this skirt!

Alana

My Grandma was born in 1890 and all I ever remember her wearing were cotton housedresses with aprons — so here I am quite a bit older than she was in this picture (circa 1930 era I believe).

Pinterest

Adrienne

I drafted the dress I made based on a catalogue image from 1959, the year my grandma turned 30 and my mom was born.

Jessica

I wish I could have found the right floral rayon for this but I used a fabric from my stash. My next version of this dress will be more like my gram’s with a few more pattern modifications, I used Named Reeta for the pattern but shortened the length to knee length

Johanna

1940s tap pants and satin cami.

Kathleen

I made this from Vogue 9000 (this is my 2nd go at it.) The fabric I made myself via Spoonflower! Also has a self fabric belt.

Raquel

Alyssa

I used my great-grandmother for this, taking a picture of her shortly after she and my great-grandfather eloped in 1942.

Courtney

The original picture is of my aunt wearing her bridesmaid’s dress at my mother and father’s wedding. The big flowers on the dress and the colors are definitely 70’s. The second picture is of me in a dress that I made. It is a bit brighter, but it definitely carries on the large flower theme and 70’s colors.

Amy

My Grandma, Euphemia Gertrude Thomas and my attempt at a replica dress. I used v9127 and some rose print polycotton from a local fabric market. My grandma was also an avid dressmaker and probably made her dress from the photo.

Tenille

This photo was taken in 1948, shortly after she was married. There are a lot of interesting features of this dress, which I (hopefully) managed to recreate in this, my final version of the 1948 dress

Gillian

I was inspired by a picture of my Mom’s mom at a garden party in 1954. While I was visiting, I asked her about what she wore on her first date with my Grandad (they married in 1940) and what she liked wearing in general. (Ok, I filmed her while I asked, because what she can’t see won’t hurt her!) She answered that she liked a fitted bodice and a full skirt – so that’s where I’ve taken my sewing inspiration!

Elizabeth

I chose to make something in the style of my Dad’s mom.  Here she is with my eldest aunt in 1960.  She wears a floral high necked blouse and some sort of slim high waisted pencil skirt.  I chose a vintage Butterick back-buttoned blouse pattern and a BurdaStyle high waisted pencil skirt to recreate my Grandma’s look.

Caroline

I have recently started digitising my Opa’s glass plate negative collection and have become obsessed with Oma’s grace and style. This is Oma circa 1942, with my aunt.

Sarah

Grandma Jane was always a stylish lady. I was inspired by her striped taffeta skirt and casual puff shoulder blouse for this dance. I think she was already engaged to her first fiancé, Eddy, and not looking to meet anyone. But ever glamorous and poised.

Caitlin

This was my first time using vintage patterns and it was really challenging, but so much fun! And I thought this was such an amazing way to celebrate the most stylish lady I know.

Allie

My Sewaholic Granville and gathered skirt, pretty and practical just like my nana wore.

Kitty Ann

I wanted to take photos at a nearby park but we have stormy weather today, so inside in front of my vintage Seller’s 1940’s Hoosier Cabinet will have to do. I really wanted to make it out of a plaid as in the photo, however, no plaids to be found in a larger print, just smallish quilting plaids. I am please with how it turned out, I did a half pleated cuff for the sleeves and widened the neck ruffle a bit. The nylon gloves are vintage 50s from an estate auction. The hat is not period but the only one I had at hand. I don’t have much hair at the moment, finished up chemo at the first of the year so only have fuzzies. I just may have to source a 40’s style wig to wear!

Wilma

Sadly no dog! Made with bodice and skirt from Gertie’s Ultimate dresses book and added buttonband and collar.

Sarah

This is my Great Grandma Annie.

Myrthe

My dress, strongly inspired by the dress my grandmother is wearing on the right.

Tiffany

This is my sweet mama’s mama in the late ’60s or early ’70s in St. Augustine! I used Simplicity 8253 and vintage fabric to recreate my mama’s mama’s dress. I made it on her mother-in-law’s machine, which made it extra special to me!

Sarah

My inspiration photo is my grandparents’ honeymoon photo in Maine after WW2. They bought her wedding ring there, which is now my wedding ring

Maranda

1945 and 2017.  The moment it hits you… you have been dressing like your husbands grandma for a while….

Kelly

My 1951 collared dress, on the left.  My Grandma in 1951, at right in collared dress

I made this dress from a ribbon seersucker and a McCall #7212, year 1948. This dress looks much like one worn by my Grandmother, as seen in her high school pictures.

Sara Jolie

I chose to make a copy of my Great Grandma Jackie’s sweetheart shirt because I always thought it was so pretty and it was from one of the few family photos that I have.

Matkailijakirppu

This is inspired by the plaid dresses worn by my grandmas in 1930s and my mom in 1960s and 70s. Though I went to the Granny-takes-a-trip direction and used cray quilt fabric and my Simplicity 9723 pattern from 1971.

Molly

I made two garments for the challenge- I wanted to make a practical one, and my Grandmother wore quite a few white collared shirts throughout the 1950s and 60s. I liked this style because it had the most construction detail visible. I made just a few adjustments, like releasing the pleats below the waist, since I prefer a bit of looseness around the hip.

My second garment was this adorable playsuit! Most of my grandmother’s photos are taken on or around a beach, so when I finally get to a coast in a few weeks I’ll definitely be doing an homage photo shoot. Again, a few adjustments made, like different bust fitting and an added halter strap. I believe she’s about 18 in this photo, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do her confidence justice!

Katie

My Grandma on her 95th birthday…I wore her wedding dress. That whole day she kept looking at me, pointing to me stating…”that’s my wedding dress!!! Katie is wearing my wedding dress!” It was a blessed time!

Karen

Kathy

Originally I couldn’t find any pictures of my grandmas and so picked a picture online and started to work. As I was finishing my dress my aunt emailed me a picture she had. I was floored to see that the dress I made was the same style as my great-grandma’s! Mine just has a different collar and color scheme

Lorene

I went with separates rather than a dress. For the shirt I used the Wearing History Smooth Sailing Blouse, which I modified to raise the front yoke. I overlaid the front and back yokes with a single piece of navy point d’esprit lace. I wasn’t sure if point d’esprit was around in the 40’s but found out it was after I researched it! The skirt is a self drafted 3/4 circle skirt that I made from Telio Rayon Twill. The belt is made from some leftover navy ponte that I topstitched.

Elaine

I have so few old family photos that I haven’t really been able to copy anything specific. Instead, here’s a pic of my newest historical make, an Edwardian shirtwaist. I’m sure at least one of my female ancestors would have worn one!

As I’ve said before, there are very few surviving photos of my grandmothers [wartime bombing] and none that I’ve found of the previous generation. Undaunted, I’ve been making Edwardian outfits for my steampunk shenanigans, and my GREAT grandmothers were Victorians, so this may have to do. The great grandmother I remember was truly formidable, and always wore black…if not quite like this!
Truly Victorian patterns from the 1890s/early 1900s, in African wax print cotton.

Jocelyn

My Oma had always dressed so stylish and chic and to me, she is the most elegant woman, thus I loved recreating one of her outfits. She’s not with us anymore, so asking family members for photographs I had never seen before was such a treat 🌺
Posed with my nephew trying to recreate my uncles pose! I used Simplicity 1364 for the top and Simplicity 1371 for the pants.

Harmony

Overalls! I’m going to change the buttons when I find some better ones. And I did go a lot darker than my grandma’s were, but I wore them out while running my errands today and they are sooo comfy!

Qui

My dress became more of an “inspired by” than replica of Bernice’s dress, but I tried to keep the main details the same: notched collar, sleeve tabs, pockets and the light blue color

Sangeeta

This is a modern version of my grandmother.

Elaine

This dress is super simple and based on my fav pic of my mum 💖 taken in 1971. I remember asking her about this dress when I was wee and her telling me she made it. I wanted a bold pattern fabric and this one fits nicely with our holiday plans. I modified the Papercut Patterns Seabell Dress to chop the sleeves and make it a bit more swingin’.

Karla

My first vintage dress challenge.  Super happy with the final result💙

Thanks so much for participating!  I hope you’ll join us again next year! 🙂

* If I accidentally missed you, please let me know ASAP.  I checked and double checked my email, our FB group and Instagram to ensure that I got everyone.  There are a lot of people using the #dresslikeyourgrandma hashtag now (there were only three I found before I started using it) that aren’t involved with this challenge, so it got a little confusing.*

Happy Sewing!