A Red Floral Dorothy Lara Dress

Hi there friends!

So sorry for the my absence here.  I’ve been sewing so much, but not blogging much about it.  That’s something that I need to work on.  In the meantime, you can check out what I’m making on Instagram, as I often post WIP pics in my stories and glimpses on my regular feed.  I know there are several things (like this dress!) that I’ve shared on IG and have yet to elaborate on on my blog.

Source: Decades of Style Patterns

Anyway…. this is one of my favorite dresses of the year and I’ve been wearing it quite often since I made it May.  It’s another Decades of Style 1940’s Dorothy Lara Dress, which is a TNT pattern of mine.  I’ve lost count on how many I’ve made and I even have another one hanging here in my sewing room that I need to sew a zip in and hem (I’m thinking I should do that TODAY!).  The Dorothy Lara dress is a peasant style dress with raglan sleeves and faux smocking.  It’s a pretty quick dress for me to sew.  The faux smocking (gathers), take a bit of time to sew, but once you’ve sewn it, the next one is a breeze.

The fabric is a Milly silk/cotton voile that I bought a few years ago at Metro Textiles in New York.  I didn’t have quite enough yardage to make this dress, so after some brainstorming with Janet at DoS, I decided to pair this fabric with a red cotton lawn remnant from my stash.  This combo knocked this dress out of the park as contrasting fabrics often do.  It’s also something that I rarely think about except when I’m confronted with a lack of fabric.

The red contrast really brings out the vibrant colors in this dress and I’m so happy that I added it.  The red neck binding and waistband are just the pattern’s pieces, but the bottom hem band is added on.  It’s just a rectangular piece of fabric folded and sewn to the bottom of the skirt, which meant that I didn’t really have to hem it.

I elected not to line this dress, which means that I definitely need to wear a slip with it as the fabric is sheer.  As it’s a silk blend, this dress can also be very hot to wear, but a slip helps with that.  I first wore this dress in New Orleans this summer and where the fabric touched my upper back, I was sweating.  I was definitely reminded that silk is not a hot weather fabric.

I also have to take a minute to note my newest wicker purse that I picked up in New Orleans.  It’s my most FAVORITE purse.  I’m not looking forward to cold weather and cold weather clothes when I “have” to put it away. 🙁

When I wore this dress in New Orleans, I had so many people stop me to tell me how much they liked it.  Perfect strangers just stopping me to tell me how pretty it was.  It sure is a juxtaposition compared to here in California where I rarely get any comments on this dress…. Not that I make dresses to yield comments.  Just sharing the differences.

And this it how I wore it New Orleans.  Standing here in Lafayette Cemetery. 🙂  Oh, New Orleans. I wish I was back there now!

P.S.  Decades of Style has 20% off their patterns right now, including this dress pattern.

Happy Sewing!

• Dress:  Decades of Style 1940’s Dorothy Lara dress in silk/cotton voile, made by me
• Shoes:  Royal Vintage Rita 1940’s sandals
• Purse:  Vintage mid-century via Bambi DeVille Vintage
• Earrings:  Luxulite
• Sunglasses:  XOXO
• Lipstick:  Besame 1939 Tango Red (affiliate link)