PROJECTS

stealth sewing & silent films So I cheated and did a little offline sewing this past week… I feel so naughty!

I’ve been planning an outfit for the 2004 Gatsby picnic based on this beautiful early 20th century ivory and black parasol, but was inspired to whip out the dress early for the Silent Film Festival. I loved the color scheme of the parasol and decided to conquer my fear of 1920s (would I look like I was wearing a giant pillowcase? well, yeah, but oh well!) and come up with an outfit around it.

The dress is made of ivory and black rayon crepe, which was really hard to find! I finally tracked some down at Trimfabric.com. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going until I found the pattern, which I liked for its simplicity. It’s obviously from 1923, given the long skirt (hemlines got progressively shorter from 1919-22, then went back to ankle length in ’23, and then started rising again in 1924). I knew I wanted contrast collar and cuffs, and thought the straight collar on the pattern would lend itself well to a sailor collar, which I think really adds to the design.

Fitting the dress was hilarious. I graded the pattern up to my size, cut out a mockup, put it on — yep, it fit. There’s just NO fitting involved with these styles! (Okay, I did have to cut the shoulder area a bit narrower — but I’m so used to futzing!). Since this was a 20th century dress, I was able to use machine embroidery (on the collar and cuffs) and machine made buttonholes — all of which were SO easy compared to the handwork I’m used to! I ran out of time to do anything with my hat, but that leaves me something to do before Gatsby.

So on Sunday it was off to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival to see Lady of the Night starring Norma Shearer. The film was great with really interesting 1920s dresses. Norma Shearer plays two characters born at the same time, one rich, one poor. What I found interesting (well, once I stopped drooling over everyone’s shoes) was that while the rich women dresses had the typical drop-waist of the mid-1920s, the working class women’s dresses all were at the natural waistline. Anyway, great film!

I got the best compliment when my friend Lynne (who knows what she’s talking about) asked if my dress was vintage! You can see a few photos of me and Lynne (who’s the workshop coordinator for GBACG) in the 2004 San Francisco Silent Film Festival gallery.