Self drafted dropped waist dress

Back in my extreme youth as in 1982 I was 17 and my Mum bought me two dresses from Miss Selfridge. This was before they were taken over by Arcadia Group and they had very lovely clothing which was much better than for example Top Shop or Chelsea Girl ( later became New Look). Sadly I have no photos of these dresses so this is all from memory but in the summer of 1982 this style was what I lived in.

Both dresses were very simple and almost 1920s with dropped waists with drawstrings and frill skirts. Just before we went away to Somerset  I received this fabric from Ebay. I immediately decided to make this kind of dress. Its not what I bought the fabric for but it was very hot ( it still is) and a loose summer dress seemed just the ticket for my holiday. Well I never managed to finish this so did that yesterday. The top is simply 2 rectangles which are slightly angled to give longer shoulders/ sleeves. The skirt is also 2 rectangles which are gathered and attached to the top part. Then two strips make up the casing for the pull cord and the pullcord itself.   The hems are finished with overlocking and then sewed up with a single needle thread. The sleeve hem the same. The neck is turned over twice to make it neat. No facings or bias binding so just like the original dresses back in the 80s. Easy. To do the neck you need to have the turned over bit slightly wider at CF and CB and taper it to the sides. Its a basic boat neck. Alternatively I reckon I could have turned them over before sewing up the shoulders. On the sleeves I hemmed them before I sewed up the sides. Its so 1982 I cannot find the words!

 

My only alteration on dress two ( yes I am making a second one) will be to make the neck slightly narrower because it falls off the shoulders. This was not the look of my original dresses. Yes we had lots of off the shoulder tops etc but not in this particular style so I may resew up the shoulders and stop this from happening by making the neck opening a bit smaller. I need to wear it a few times first to decide if I need to do this but I am fiddling with it a bit because of this which is slightly annoying.

 There is a casing with pull-cord just above the skirt. The casing bottom is sewn into the seam of the frill. Its below the natural waist. I will not be using this pull-cord to be honest its just for show but was on the original designs. I never used it back in the 80s either 😁
This is what the basic design is like. I am not a fashion designer so excuse my rubbish drawing but you get the idea easier from this sketch I think than from the photos.

I was unsure if having worn this style as a teen I would still handle wearing it as a 50-something but as it turns out I like it and its cool in hot weather and very comfortable. The fabric by the way is the Raven Skull fabric which is 100% cotton and I bought off Ebay. My other half reckons its something to do with Edgar Allan Poe but I really do not know if that is right. I was not sure when I bought it what to do with it but once  saw it in real life, I loved it so much I have ordered another 2m of it.

Thanks for visiting,

Bracken