Tag Archives: challenges

Dress Like Your Grandma Challenge

When Tanya announced her Dress Like Your Grandma Challenge (#dresslikeyourgrandma) I immediately emailed my mom and my aunt for some photos. I was ok with any era, but what I got was mainly 1940s photos, which worked for me  since I like 40’s clothing. But there were a couple of challenges. First, main of the photos were washed out or lacked details. Second, I don’t want to sew something that I’m only going to wear for photos for this blog post!

In the end 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! I wish the Smooth Sailing Blouse pattern was available in the larger size range. I did an FBA to make it fit my bust but neck was tiny so I also had to enlarge that and the collar.  I went way overboard and had to fix it. It ended up being okay, but I’m not sure I’ll wear the blouse again.

The skirt is a self drafted 3/4 circle skirt that I made from Telio Rayon Twill. This fabric is yummy but stretches on the bias like crazy!  I put in a lapped zipper in the center back. The belt is made from some leftover navy ponte that I topstitched. I can definitely see myself wearing this skirt again.

You can see everyone’s makes on the Dress Like Your Grandma Pinterest board.