Butterick 8404: My Dapper Day Dress

Sigh. Today is the last of the Dapper Day posts! At least I have a very fun dress to show you, with lots of interesting construction details. That lessens the blow a bit, don't you think? This beauty is Butterick 8408, a 1958 pattern. I look almost exactly like the pattern envelope!

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I couldn't find a pattern for this one in my size, which happens from time-to-time with vintage, so I ended up purchasing one a size down and figured I could grade up. Oh, what a chore that ended up being! 

I followed a Threads tutorial on grading, which was incredibly helpful, then did my regular pattern adjustments, then tweaked a bit more after the first muslin. In the end, I think I over-fit a bit as the bodice is bigger than it needs to be. It's still a great dress, and at least I had plenty of room for all those Mickey ice cream bars and Dole whip. 

The material is linen, and it feels so nice and sews great. I was worried about the red bleeding into the white when I washed it, but I used a tip from a fabric shop owner I learned last year. Put salt into your washing machine! It helps the colors stay put. It worked beautifully.

Construction Surprises

A Zipper in a Dart?!

I had two things that surprised me a bit on this dress when I was sewing it. The first was the zipper insertion. Remember this picture form my inspiration post? I was showing how much skirt there was to gather in the bodice. 

Well, there are no side seams on this skirt. There are 2 seams that actually sit up at the front of the skirt, I suppose because it could be more full that way. The zipper is actually inserted into a dart that's way up by Oxford's head in the picture above (see that triangle?). You create a placket so there's a nice clean finish, and then insert the zip just like you normally would into the dart/placket area. Funny, huh? 

A Belt Instead of Trim

The second surprise was the bow and trim at the waist. The trim at the neckline is acting like a decorative facing (is that at thing?). So it clean finishes your neckline while also providing you with the trim. The trim at the center is just top stitched on. The trim at the waist is actually a belt, which I was not expecting. 

I used 2 snaps to connect it together, and I quickly realized upon wearing it I should have used hooks instead. Snaps just can't withstand the pressure of you getting up and down and sitting all day. A good lesson! 

The belt works a lot better than the trim at the waist, as I didn't have to navigate matching trim there with the zipper. I don't think I would repeat the construction of the skirt, though. I love the fullness, especially with a petticoat (I have one on in these photos), but it was a bit fussy for my tastes. I think you could easily reposition those seams from the front to the side and keep the fullness. I couldn't resist trying out the technique, though! 

The End

And that's a wrap for Dapper Day posts! I so hope I'll be able to attend again in the future. It was such a magical day, and the preparation for it really stretched my sewing skills. I got to work on fitting someone other than myself and adapting a pattern I drafted to them, as well as a couple of interesting vintage sewing techniques. 

I leave you with a quintessential picture with Cinderella's Castle and Mickey and Minnie behind me. If I close my eyes, I'm almost back there… 

The Marfa Dress for Andi

For Dapper Day, my friend Andi said she wanted me to make her The Marfa Dress, a pattern I designed and drafted in my pattern making class. It features six darts at the neckline, cap sleeves, and a full skirt. It looked sensational on her! She borrowed the hat from me, a great find from Poppycock Vintage. 

I started with a sloper made to Andi's measurements, and we worked on the fit of that first. She has sloping shoulders and a broad back (I later figured out), and it took me a bit to sort out how to fit her. I'm not used to fitting anyone but me! Then I did the design work on sloper to make it a Marfa, and we did another test muslin just to check that nothing got out of whack. All told, we did 3 muslins. I am so pleased with the result! 

I don't sew for others often as I find it rather stressful, but this was such a fun project to work on. Andi is one of those great friends that listens to me gab on about sewing all the time, and I knew she would enjoy the process just as much as the finished product. That took a lot of the burden off of me. It was also so marvelous to hear her exclamations of joy. A dress that fits properly, without any fussing or covering up wonky bits! She was delighted, and I with her.

The fabric is a lovely textured rayon crepe from Hart's Fabric in Santa Cruz, CA. It sews up just beautifully and feels so nice to wear (my Marfa is made out of the same material in green). The bodice is lined in a  rayon as well, in a deep royal blue and hand-stitched down. The hem is also hand stitched.  It closes with a lapped zipper. 

A smashing success, if I do say so myself! Want to see more of the Marfa dress?

• See my Marfa Dress in green
• Look at original design sketches
• Learn how I created the darts at the neckline

Just one more Dapper Day post to go! My dress, sewn from a 1958 pattern.

Dapper Day!

I hardly know where to begin! Dapper Day was beyond magical. It was a Disney and vintage-lover's dream. Today I'll tell you a bit about the day itself, and then soon I'll be posting up construction details and more photos of each of our dresses. 

We began our day with the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. It's a 5-hour backstage tour that takes you through a lot of history of the park as well as down into the underground system (called utilidor) that cast members use to get around the park. Andi and I have both been to the park several times, and it was really thrilling to get a deeper look behind the show. It was absolutely wonderful, and I highly recommend it.

As a result of the tour, we ended up getting into the park before it even opened. I practically cried with the excitement of it. We snapped a few photos before the park was overflowing with people, and there were a lot of people! A new parade debuted for the first time in about 12 years on Dapper Day, and boy it was crowded.

Our dresses turned out so wonderfully! I can't wait to show you them up close. I was tickled pink when people would accidentally mistake us for cast members. It made me feel like I was part of creating the magic for people that day! 

The first Dapper Day event was meeting at the Liberty Square Riverboat for a dandy ride. I can't imagine what it was like for people in the square, seeing this boat full of vintage-styled folks. It was stupendous to walk up to.

One couple even dressed up in black and white makeup. And they wore it all day! 

We also had a dashing ride on the carousel, another great sight to see. There was even a group of dapper men that sang along to the Aladdin songs as we rode round and round.

We finished the evening with after dapper drinks at the Grand Floridian, which is by far my favorite hotel on the property. My family stayed there for one evening three years ago when we went, and it holds some really special memories for me. There was a jazz band playing, and Andi and I ended up getting dinner at the garden cafe.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect day. Stay tuned Thursday to see all the sewing details of Andi's blue dress! 

Dapper Day Sewing

It's almost time…!

Have you heard of Disney's Dapper Day? It's a stupendous day of dressing up in your finest at Disney and enjoying the park with others that are equally dressed to the nines. There are some special activities in the park as well as events afterwards like a jazz evening at the Grand Floridian. I'll be attending at Walt Disney World this weekend with my friend Andi.

Guys, I can hardly contain myself. This is a magical combination of things I hold very dear - Disney and vintage! Can you just imagine walking down main street, dressed in your vintage best? It gives me tingles! I've been busily sewing dresses for the two of us, and thought I would give you a peek today!

Dapper for Me 

I'm making Butterick 8408 for me, a pattern from 1958. My dress will be almost identical to the one on the right. Look at those bows! I also love that the pattern says "Magic to Make" at the bottom right. BECAUSE I'LL BE WEARING IT AT THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH!

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I decided on linen for my fabric. I know it wrinkles terribly, but I love sewing with it and it's so comfortable to wear. I choose a deep red, and it looks lovely. 

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The pattern has some interesting construction details like a zipper inserted in a dart that I'll share more with you later. The skirt is also extremely full! Look at this! That's the actual skirt, already cut and sewn together just waiting to be gathered. Oxford demonstrates scale for you.

Dapper for Andi 

Andi told me that she wanted me to sew her The Marfa dress, which was one of the dresses I designed in my pattern making class. I was so honored that she picked one of my designs! That's a good friend. It has six darts at the neckline, cap sleeves, and a full skirt. 

Me in The Marfa Dress

We started our designs in class with slopers we purchased (see more about the process I used for buying a sloper), so I took Andi's measurements and ordered her a custom one. We fit that, and then I did the design work to make it a Marfa. 

For her fabric, I'm using the same textured rayon I used for mine, this time in a royal blue. 

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Plus, we've been scheming and plotting all sorts of accessories to wear, like the 1950s white gloves you see above! Squeee!!! I simply cannot wait. Now if I can just get over the truly horrendous stomach virus that has plagued me for a few days! Fingers crossed. If I have to live on crackers and gatorade for four days in the parks, so be it! To Dapper Day I go! 

Follow me on Instagram to see my Dapper Day as it happens!