1916 Sailor Dress from Original Pattern!

Earlier this year, I declared on Facebook, that this year, 2015, would be the year of the return to the 1890s.

I think I need to get one thing straight with myself right here and now.  Please, for the love of all that is good and holy....

STOP DECLARING THINGS!!!

Why?  Because, even though these are things that I, MYSELF, declare, there is a part of my very DNA that is obstinate.  Like telling a 2 year old, "DO NOT stomp in that mud puddle!" or "DO NOT touch that thousand dollar vase that your Grandmother has carelessly placed within your reach!"  There is a part of me that, even when I tell myself to not do something or that tells myself, "We WILL do this!" stiffens my neck, digs my feet in and says, "Wanna bet?"

Therefore, I am going to politely ask myself if it is ok if we do such and such and not make demands or declarations!!

That being said, I am going to allow myself to sew whatever blows my skirt up at the time I am planning.  We shall see how this goes.  Knowing my mind and personality, I will probably be paralyzed creatively and won't be able to sew anything without a plan set in motion.

This is where I tell you my plans for making yet another Sailor Dress.  I am sure you have probably grown weary of my making them and talking about them ad nauseam...but as I said above, this is where my skirt is being blown up and this is currently what is making my heart happy.  I have grown tired of sewing against what makes my heart sing, and what I dream about at night.  It makes the whole experience tiresome and difficult to complete, and sort of causes me to resent the whole process.

Enter the 1916 Sailor Dress!!!  TaaaaDAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Way back, oh about 5 or 6 years ago, a dear friend of mine by the name of Hilda Steiner, gave me a pattern (Hilda Dress blog post from 2011) that she thought I would be able to use.  I have kept it safe in my pattern file cabinet since then, taking it out every so often and petting it and whispering sweet nothings in its ear.  I wanted to wait for something out of this world to use it for/with and while perusing my Pinterest Sailor Suits board the other day, I came across some 1917 dresses that had the sailor dress bent to them and that got me thinking about Hilda's pattern!!  Holy Monkey!!  While waiting for my 1920s middy pattern, I can play around with this pattern!!!  I went to Walmart and low and behold, they had a 100% cotton with a linen like weave to it and I purchased enough to make the 1916 pattern!!

I'm sooooo Heppy!!! (That's Maid Marian from Robin Hood Men in Tights...)

I even found this most fabulous H. & W. Walker catalog of 1916 items on the Winterthur Museum Library site.  Ohmygosh...were my salivary glands working over time!!!

Aren't these delicious dresses???  I really love the one in the upper right hand corner...

Source

The precious pattern that Miss Hilda gifted to me!!!  I can't wait to start on it.  I have the fabric in the washing machine as we type!!

Close-up of the dress....isn't it adorable?

I really like the collar on the blouse in the bottom right hand corner...
Source

Well, there you have it.  My plans for my next outfit.  That reminds me....now I need to make a new, short petticoat....Rats!!!  Oh well!  That's totally ok if it means I can have a 1916 dress!!

Be blessed my friends!!

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