Stylin' like 1949

The Impldoll has a new outfit! All I need to do is make a white handbag.

This dress is a pattern I have from 1948. The hat is a pattern from 1949. I scaled both of them down to fit this 1/3 scale doll.

The hat was straightforward.

I reduced the pattern pieces to 39% of their original size. The original was for a head size of 22 inches and my doll is 21 cm. So I just borrowed the conversion from in to cms and all was well.

Differences from the original pattern
No topstitching.
No interlining since the silk is stiff enough at this scale to support the hat's structure.
I used rayon seam tape instead of grosgrain ribbon for the hatband.

I self lined the hat in the same fabric. I guess that was a little redundant. Oh well.

The dress has an interesting yoke. A striped fabric would make this more obvious.

(Same doll, different wig and different lighting!)

The pattern was for a size 14. I scaled it down 33% which was good for hip and shoulder, but too long for the torso and too big in the waist. So I did some alterations.

I would change two things next time: move the above bust gathers just a little bit in and lower the waist just a bit to give it that post-war long-torso look.

The original dress had a short back-neck opening and a side waist opening. My version has a back open to the waist and I kept the side opening. The next version will have only a back opening (a zipper) extending from the bottom of the yoke to the hips. And I'll probably make the buttons at the neck functional instead of on top of snaps.

 

The belt is just some bias tape folded again and stitched. The necklace are some old plastic beads I had lying around.

I am very pleased with this dress and I'm keeping an eye out for some tiny striped material with a little more drape for the next (long sleeved) version.