Mad Men Sewalong – Progress!

Over the Easter weekend I finally made some progress on the dress I’m making for Julia Bobin’s Mad Men Dress Challenge. Ages ago I let you know that I was going to attempt to recreate Betty Draper’s cocktail from the season 4 poster.

I will be using this navy, teal and gold brocade that I bought of Etsy at the begging of last year. I’ll be making this dress using a vintage pattern – McCalls 6564 circa 1962. Last time I made this dress I made it out of a deep blue velvet and I loved it! I still wear it, but it is definitely a winter dress (we’ve been having quite the Indian Summer here in New Zealand).

So what have I actually done since we last touched on this topic? WELL ACTUALLY (she said a little too defensively) I made a muslin. I know – I never make muslins! I convinced myself to do it by thinking that I could use said muslin as the dress lining if there wasn’t too much to change. And as it turns out all I did was take 1cm off the shoulders and subsquently lower the neckline and the armholes to match.

If you look closely you’ll see that the dress has bust darts, plus two darts on either side at the front and another four on the back. It has quite a high neckline and a deep V-back. Do you know haw many tailors tacks that is? Approximately a million. However, I decided as it was a long weekend that I would diligently put them all in – I know – you’re all so proud of me.

Who else is doing Julia’s Mad Men Dress Challenge?