Though photos without flash are allowed in the exhibit, as I leaned in to get a closeup of the beading, a loud BEEEEEEPPPPPP rang out through the hushed room, and I was suddenly worried the “authorities” from Casablanca would come bursting in. The dress appears to have a black silk bias underslip, and over it is a mesh dress with the most exquisite sequin and beaded flowers. The dress was created in the mid-20s by Chanel, and it was worn by actress Ina Claire in a photo for Vogue by Edward Steichen. Let’s start with what, to me, is the best, most beautifully preserved vintage dress I’ve ever seen in person, and that’s saying a lot, as I’ve attended a number of the big fashion exhibits over the past couple of decades. “ Hollywood Glamour: Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen” features gowns by Chanel, Edith Head, Travis Banton, Schiaparelli and other famous designers and costumers from the 20s through 40s, along with some big flippin’ ROCKS of jewelry…okay, I may be getting a little overexcited, but trust me, if you saw them, you’d have a hot flash, too.
I wanted to share a few pictures from a beautifully-curated “jewel box” of an exhibit I attended recently at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Tagged Madame Gres, Madame Gres sewing pattern, Madame Gres Vogue Pattern, Sewing with knits, Sewing with Power Mesh, Sewing with wool jersey Boston’s “Hollywood Glamour” Exhibit, and Step Away from the 20s Chanel, Ma’am. The snow’s not going anywhere anytime soon, either!Īnyone else’s sewing stuck in the snow? Keep shoveling! So I’m getting there, but I still have a way to go: I turned up the bottom edge by 1/4 inch and edgestitched it. I decided to use light knit fusible on the neck facings, to speed things up. Then the next day, when the whole town was digging out: But since the dress was stretchy, I knew I could jettison putting in a zipper, which made me delirious with joy. I also saw that it was time to get back to the gym. I basted the whole underdress together, and saw that the fit wasn’t too bad. When I went to pin the darts, the thread tracing made it so much easier to line everything up, it was worth the effort. (For details about how Bernina is loaning a B560 and walking foot to assist with these vintage projects, click the “Bernina Collaboration” tab.) My Bernina 560, Karl, was so happy to be back in action, his walking foot was jumping up and down! The walking foot kept the layers together and even. I wasn’t about to thread trace all the way around, so I attached the underlining to the fashion fabric around the edges by using a long, narrow zigzag about 3/8 inch outside of the seamline. I’ve just found it’s so much easier to manipulate darts with underlining if you take the time to do this:
Isn’t he dreamy?)Īs much as I wasn’t feeling it, I hand-basted (“thread traced”) the fashion fabric to the underlining at the darts and the line where the drape will attach.
(I put that picture in for my friends Darcy and Christine, who don’t really sew, but read my blog anyway. I figured if George Clooney and I were somewhere out of earshot of our spouses, and suddenly he got fiesty and ripped off my dress, he would be enough of a gentleman not to say, “boy, you really should have put in some kind of lining, even though it would have made the dress more bulky, because, dammit, those magic marker lines look like crap.” The interior was going to be a little messy, but I got over it. I had already marked the wrong side of the fashion fabric with wax sheets and a tracing wheel. Then the blizzard hit, so I took advantage of the snow day to cut and mark the powermesh lining, using a marker to speed things up. I didn’t think there would be a problem with the bias shifting with a knit, but I did it just in case: Then I realized that that was what MY mom would have said, so the next day, I got out that fine wool jersey and did a layout that took up the entire length of the bedroom floor:ĭid the alterations that I knew the pattern needed on the sides (from having fit the muslin):Īnd figured out a way to hang the big drape, so I could hem it before I put it on the dress. So I put on my “mom voice” and said, “the stress will go away when you’re done.” Meanwhile, in the next room, my 13-year-old son was complaining about a “take-home” test in American History and stressing about the War of 1812 (anyone?), the Whiskey Rebellion (anyone?), Pinkney’s Treaty (anyone? Except you, Lizzie of The Vintage Traveler, former middle-school history teacher…). I was thinking, it will be a pain to layout, it will be a pain to cut, it will be a pain to attach the mesh, it will it will be a pain to hem and attach the six-foot drape, it will be a pain to…I was just getting anxious about the whole thing.