alternative 1950’s housewife

The 1950’s housewife look has intrigued me for a couple of years, but I never could quite see it on me. Mostly, I see this look on women who are at least 10 years younger than me, who are not actually housewives. This summer, I decided to take the plunge.

The fabric is a laser cut cotton from Fabric Mart. It was only $1.99. When I saw it on the site, I could not stop thinking about it. One thing that intrigued me is that I thought all laser cut fabric had to have a significant synthetic content. That way, the laser can melt the fibers and the holes don’t get all fuzzy with washing. Well, when I prewashed this fabric, the holes did, indeed, deconstruct a bit. I think that is OK, though. And the fabric seems just edgy enough to take some of the sweetness away from my 1950’s housewife look.

For a pattern, I used the bodice from dress #3 in Machiko Kayaki’s book Simple Chic. I have 8 or 10 Japanese sewing books from different authors, and they are a great resource when I am looking for a very simple pattern. Instead of the a-line skirt that the dress comes with, I took a long rectangle of fabric cut on the cross grain, pleated it, and attached it to the bodice. I did the cross grain because the selvedge is not laser cut, so that made a nice finish to the lower edge. I did not hem it because it did not seem to need it.

In the above photo, I am wearing a tan knit tank dress underneath. I also made a bias cut silk slip to wear under, but it seemed like a bit much when I looked at it this morning.

Here is the dress on my form.

 
Dress Back

 
Here is the slip I made to wear under it.  It is a bias cut tube that I cut into a tank dress shape.  It seems like there may be too much going on when I wear the dress and slip together, so I wore a more plain tank dress under it today.

Shadow Play

Here is a detail shot of the front.  You can see how the threads are poking out of the holes.  The holes are not as well-defined as I think a laser-cut fabric should be.  I finished the neckline and armholes with self bias binding.

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