HSM20 Challenge 5 - Basic; the one hour dress

It feels like I'm just starting a lot of project at the moment, but I'm not finishing them. For that reason it felt good to make a quick project that I started and could post the result of in less than 36 hours. It was ready in less than a day, but I needed to get photos so it took some more time.

Today I was away on a workshop for doing educational time travel. Basically it's when you take children on a journey back in time and let them pretend what it would have been like to live then. The workshop had a very vague "bring some old fashioned clothes with you" on the invitation. I started thinking about what I would wear, very aware that the people doing the workshop would wear some pretend late 19th century. Then in the invitation it also said that we were going to make a time travel ourselves to 1920. I don't have any 1920's clothing, since it's probably my least favorite fashion decade. Still when I did my regency gown I discovered that a fashion that I didn't really like actually wasn't too bad, maybe it was the same for the 1920s. I decided to make a 1920's frock. I was aware of the "one hour dress" that pops up a lot in 1920's fashion blogs. This is one tutorial from the Closet Historian. Therer are many others out ther if you google "one hour dress".

Since it's still pretty cold here I wanted to make it longsleeved instead of short sleeved, and after some feedback in the Historical Sew Fortnightly group I got assured that it was possible to just lengthen the sleeve part. The one hour dress is a really basic pattern. One long rectangle for the sleeves, one square for the bodice and one rectangle for the skirt. I followed the advice to cut the bodice and sleeves in one piece and the skirt as a separate piece. As for fabric I dug into my stash and found that I had a pretty big piece of linen that I could use. I would have preferred cotton but I didn't have enough of any cotton fabric. I cut out the pattern and had it sewn together in less than an hour. I then tried it on and it felt like I was wearing a sack of potatoes. I was not happy and swore over the ugly 20's fashion. I decided to take it in, and it looked a lot better. I still wasn't happy though, but I finished the neckline and the sleeves and I hemmed it. Then just before I went to bed I decided to remake it again, and take it in a lot more. The skirt part was taken in with 40 cm! and the bodice part was also taken in around 4 cm. In the end the bodice part needs to be just big enough to be able to pull it on and off, there shouldn't be more than a minimal amount of ease over the bust and/or the hips (depending on what's biggest. Too much fabric in the skirt also made it look too baggy, with less fabric it looked a lot better. I think I have added around 20 cm on each side that was pleated into the bodice as close to the side seam as possible. So this is a lesson for big girls like me, it might sound safe to add fabric, but in fact too much fabric makes it look more like a big sack.

This dress meets the challenge because the pattern is very simple and basic, I now also have a basic 1920's gown that I can dress up with some pearls and other accessories, or dress down with an apron. I didn't get any photos but I started out wearing it with a silk velvet cloche and I looked like the rich relative from town visiting in the country, and then for the time travel I put on an apron and was ready to work. I'm still not convinced that the 1920's is a suitable fashion for people with my biody type (XL with a protruding tummy and a big bum)

This was the open air museum that we were at. It's a number of buildings from approximately 1750-1960, even if the last house is mainly used as an office.

One of the houses is furnished like the 1920's. It was still pretty cold so I also wore a long knitted cardigan, and I had knee high woollen socks and a pair of wool leggings on as well. For shoes I used my standard black discrete shoes that I basically use for any time period when I don't have any period correct shoes.

What the item is: a basic 1920's frock
How it fits the challenge: It's the basic look for the 1920's that can be both dressed up and down to fit the occasion.
Material: 3 m purple linen
Pattern: The one hour dress pattern
Year: 1920
Notions: Polyester thread, polyester bias tape to bind the neckline and sleeve cuffs.
How historically accurate is it? The pattern is accurate, but I'm not knowledgeable enough in the time period to know if a dyed linen like this would have been used. Linen was around and purple was around, I just don't know if they were combined into one type of fabric.
Hours to complete: 5 (including the almost total remake)
First worn: March 16 for a time travel workshop
Total cost: It was from stash, but the fabric had probably cost around $30 if bought new.