Good afternoon, friends!
Or morning or evening as it might be where you are! 🙂 Today, I’m sharing my first 100% finished make of 2018 (I know, I’m out of order….). I do have a couple of in-progress projects, but this one is complete. This is my FIFTH Dorothy Lara dress (the others, here). It’s quite obviously a TNT for me and I doubt that this will be my last version of this pattern.
Source: Decades of Style Patterns
The Dorothy Lara dress is a 1940’s pattern by Decades of Style. It’s a peasant style dress with raglan sleeves and beautiful gathers and it’s basically my favorite style to wear.
The fabric I used for this dress is a vintage 1940’s cold rayon (cold spun) that I purchased from Mena at ShopMakeThisLook. It’s the best fabric ever. I wish I had a stash full of this stuff. The color is kind of a tangerine, but most closely resembling a California poppy, which is apropos (look at my site….). It has a box or flag design with multi-colors. This fabric has some light reddish stains running through it which I either cut around or put in places where they wouldn’t stand out. The stains are not clearly noticeable as they blend in with the fabric. And, yes, I was aware of the stains before I purchased it, and they don’t bother me. 🙂
You can see one of the stains on the back bodice piece
This version went together just as my others, although I serged the seams and didn’t finish them with my favored rayon bias tape, which I tend to do with vintage fabrics and patterns. The alteration aside from grading this pattern up 1-2 sizes is that I added some length to the skirt. This dress is unlined.
I had plans to use another pattern for this dress — a vintage 1940’s pattern. It was one that I had to trace and resize and I was lazy and didn’t feel like doing that, but I also wanted to sew this fabric up and wear it. So, I chose one of my TNT’s, which is based off a vintage pattern, and here we are. I couldn’t be happier.
This fabric was so wonderful to work with. It’s much better than a rayon challis and it feels so wonderful to the touch. I have other vintage 30’s/40’s rayons in my stash, but this is the only cold rayon.
No, it’s not warm here yet, although it was in the upper 50’s, low 60’s when I wore this dress. I decided to sew this pattern that I could potentially wear through different seasons and when I wore it last, I added a black cardigan. The black cardigan showcased my butterscotch bakelite Scottie so well when I pinned it to my sweater. Much more than wearing it pinned to this dress.
Rollie, the photo bomber
I actually have a very similar dress already in my closet. But….that’s a Vogue pattern and it’s polka dotted silk….. and it’s yellow…. 😉 I’m anticipating getting a lot more wear out of this one.
Me, wondering why I don’t have shoulder pads or bra guards on this dress
My only issue with this dress is that the fabric is slippery and the sleeves slide around (see above). This pattern is meant to have shoulder pads and I was recommended by Janet at Decades when I bought this pattern to put shoulder pads in. I do have some raglan sleeve shoulder pads, so there’s really no excuse. To stop that sleeve sliding I will either need to add those or sew in some bra strap guards to keep it in place. When I first wore this dress I didn’t notice it as I had a sweater on over it. 🙂
Happy Sewing,
- Dress: Decades of Style 1940’s Dorothy Lara dress in vintage 1940’s cold rayon, made by me
- Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens Debutante
- Earrings: Vintage bakelite
- Brooch: Vintage bakelite
- Lipstick: Besame 1931 Carmine (affiliate link)
That fabric sounds amazing! If I ever see fabric described as cold rayon I’ll be sure to snatch it up! This is such a great color on you, I think your closet could take a few more variations before feeling too repetitive…
Thanks, Kelly! It really is lovely fabric. I think the closest modern equivalent might be viscose/rayon poplin.
It is indeed the colour of a California poppy! Just our style; I love them too. Your dress turned out to be such a success for you. You look great in it and will probably wear it frequently; or you should!
Thank you! Yes, I plan to wear it a lot! 🙂
Those are signal flags used to communicate ship to ship before radio was invented. As a pattern, they were popular in fabric at least in the sixties when I was growing up. I believe I had a dress with that pattern, blue though and cotton.
Thanks for explaining what those are, Cary! That makes sense!
I’d love to learn more about cold rayon! I just did a quick internet search, but it wasn’t terribly fruitful.
I can’t say that I’m an expert on cold rayon. It’s coldspun rayon and I think they might have made it up until the 1950’s. It’s cold to the touch with a lot of drape as you can see. The closest modern equivalent that I’ve seen/felt is viscose/rayon poplin.
That’s lovely- the contrast with your hair is GREAT
Thank you! I love this color. 🙂
It looks beautiful. No wonder it is a TNT! You look amazing in it!
Thanks, Angela! There’s no doubt that I’ll sew another version in the future!
I love rayon but have never touched cold pressed rayon… so interesting sounding! The dress is so very pretty and bright and cheerful. I can see why it is a TNT… I am also very curious to see your rayon binding you have finished seems with- I will have to dig through your posts!
Thanks, Laurie! Cold rayon does feel much different than other fabrics. I usually use Hug Snug rayon seam binding.
It’s so pretty Tanya! I love that fabric. The dress looks great on you, it’s such a beautiful color.
Thanks, Natasha! I adore this dress and will be wearing it a lot — especially when it’s warm.
This is lovely! That sunny colour is one of my favourites! You look great! 😁👍
Thank you, Linda! I love it! 🙂
Love-Love-Love this fabric.
You’ve used it beautifully and its you-you-you!
Do stay warm & dry with all the storms headed your way.
xx
Thank you! I hope there are more storms. It’s in the 70’s this week!
I am a large woman and when I look at that pattern, I do not see a dress that I think would flatter me. But, you took it and ran with it. And, it looks good on you. Congratulations on being able to see what I can’t see.
Thanks, Joan! It is difficult to picture yourself wearing something, especially when it’s on a stick them model in a drawing. I just take the leap and sew it up.
You look like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day! Just beautiful! I love it!
Thank you! It definitely is very sunshine-y! 🙂
While I do like Decades of Style patterns, I’ve never really wanted to sew one because I thought I’d need to make big adjustments for a good fit. I love this dress on you. The fabric is awesome and the style looks great on you. I may need to reconsider this pattern company.
Thanks, Christina! Decades of Style recently upped their size range up to a 52″ bust, but only for new and future patterns so far.
I love this dress…I think I will have to make a visit to the Decades of Style website, lol. I’d love to see a pic of the neckline without your hair on the shoulders…the pattern pic looks like an interesting detail on the shoulders…elastic in front back but not on the shoulders?
Thanks! I usually take photos on my dress form, but didn’t have time with this one as I made it to wear the next day. It doesn’t have any elastic.