1920s Salmon and Black Dress at Gatsby and Gangsters

Well, last night was the night.  The "Friends of the Historical Museum and Old Idaho Penitentiary" held their first (hopefully annual) Gatsby to Gangster fund raiser at the Old Pen.  I got to wear my salmon dress that I made for the event and it was so comfortable!  The fabric was super soft and thankfully, it was very overcast and cool for the event so I didn't swelter as I was doing earlier in the day whilst setting up.  The event was a lovely success with many people arriving in flapper and gangster style!  There were some very impressive outfits and dresses that graced the pen with their presence!

A lot of the members of We Wear History were in attendance and it thrilled my heart to see all of them during the evening adding elegance and style to the place.  Job very well done all!!

My very handsome husband wore his plus twos and looked smashing!

I love that he is game to dress up with me for these events!!!  Thank you sweets!

As soon as the event began, things were hoppin', so I had very little time for photographing my dress.  Thankfully, my fabulous husband was able to take a few shots of me that turned out really well!  We quickly headed to a spot where no other event goers were.  The building behind me is the burned out cafeteria of the Old Pen.  Still beautiful after the fire.

For my accessories I wore a necklace that I made the day before out of black glass beads, a 1920s wrist watch, black leather reticule, black T-strap shoes, my antique seam back stockings and my new hat.  Oh yes and art deco looking earrings and art deco rings...one in amethyst, the other in carnelian!

I got to the Old Pen at 2:00 and the day was strangely muggy.  I cracked the windows in the car and shaded the wind shield.  At 6:00 when I went to get my dress out of the car to get dressed, the skirt was crazy wrinkled.  I calmly went to the Bishops' House and asked if they had an iron.  Not only did they have an iron in the Bride's Room, they had an ironing board!!  Thank you Bishops' House!!!  You saved my day!!!

I am so happy with how the sleeves turned out for the dress!

The wind was playing around with the skirt....it was fun! 

Blowing a kiss to my sweet!

We Wear History!  (Our Facebook page: We Wear History) I think we all looked so very fabulous!  Thank you so much for all the help and work you did to make Gatsby to Gangsters a great success!  Now we have a year to plan what to wear to next year's event!!

Be Blessed my friends!

g

1920s Salmon and Black Gatsby & Gangsters Frock Complete!!!

Oh my heavens.  I cannot believe how busy life has gotten and been these past 5 months.  So busy in fact that I have had an anxiety attack since last Saturday.  All the things/events/end of school stuff that are going on, are putting stress on my serotonin level and I believe I have sucked it all dry!  But not to fear!  I know why I am feeling what I am feeling and after all the things are done that need to be done, I am going to be taking a big break from all the things/stress/anxiety that come from outside sources and get back to being a wife, mother, and costumer full time!  The word "no" will be in my vocabulary quite a bit I believe!

In between the hurried pace of life, I have had the chance...nay...I have fled to the sewing machine for peace, quiet, solitude and creative space to work on my 1920s dress for the upcoming Gatsby to Gangsters event at the Old Idaho Penitentiary.  Last night I was able to put the finishing touches on the dress and I now deem it complete!  Well, except for the black bow on the front.  I am not sure how I feel about it and may very well fiddle with it before its wearing.

Sadly, Emma is very thin and doesn't wear this frock as it should be worn, so keep that in mind while looking at the pictures!

I decided to use some of the diamond shaped buttons I purchased in Port Townsend for this dress!  I only bought 8 of them.  I don't know what I was thinking as Victorian dresses require more than 8 buttons, but they were so fabulously gorgeous I had to get them!

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Beautiful button.  It's shiny here but in real life it is rather flat and quite old!

Inspiration came from this dress.  I just loved the look of the whole thing!  On my dress, I did some horizontal pleats at the "waist".  I did make pleats at the front of the skirt, but also the back of the skirt.  They swish really nicely when I walk!

hahahahah!!  This cracks me up as Emma has no legs, so the skirt looks so silly!!!

For sleeves, I wanted something that looked elegant and a little bit exotic.  So, I used the pattern below... 

Past Patterns' 2149 Ladies' One Seam Sleeves View C2.  It was so easy to make and I didn't even have to alter it!

On to the cloche!

I wanted a black straw hat to go with the fabulous antique ribbon I found and so had to make a new one from scratch.  Grrrrrrrr...this added a little bit of stress to the whole Month of Stress, but I got it completed and it's ready to wear!

I wanted the brim to be a bit wider than a short brim, but not as wide as my HUGE wide brim black and yellow cloche.

I decided that this cloche needed a buckle, so I used one of my Great Grandma Cornelia's buckles...I think it looks fantastic on the hat!

Well, now all I need to do to complete the ensemble is make a new necklace.  I will either just make a black bead one or perhaps if I find some gorgeous salmon colored beads, it will be salmon and black!!

Be blessed my friends and I wish you no stress!!!

g

Gangsters to Gatsby Event at the Old Idaho Penitentiary!!!

Ok, yes, I am working on my 1895 sailor dress and it is coming along quite nicely.  I have to do the sleeves and the collar, then it shall be complete!  BUT................

I have to get this down in writing as I am super excited and I DO NOT want to change my mind.  My reasoning is, if I post it here, I will be held accountable in some sort of way, to holding to making this!  Weird, yes I know.

On June 5th, the Friends of the Historical Society and Old Idaho Penitentiary is holding a fund raiser called Gansters to Gatsby, and I am wanting to make a new 1920s dress to wear to it.  While perusing Etsy today while Colton was working on math, a dress literally jumped off the computer screen, grabbed me up by the shirt collar and screamed "MAKE ME!!!!!!"  I said "Yes Mistress!!!!" and knew in an instant what colors and fabrics I would use.  

Two years ago when I was in my "Make all the Phryne Fisher things" mode, I purchased a length of fabric from WalMart in a most fabulous shade of salmon.  (When Josie was here she did a burn test on it and concluded that it is a wool/cotton blend which totally made me deliriously happy as it was only $2.00 a yard and I have like 7+ yards.)  One of the places Josie and I visited on her visit here was the Antique World Mall.  In one of my favorite booths, was a most delicious ribbon that screamed at me "BUY ME!!!!!!"  I said "Yes Mistress!!!!"  I had a sneaking suspicion that it could possibly match my fabric and clung to it like a drowning person to a life preserver!!!  We been looking at all the lovely things for over 2 hours, when we came to one of the very last booths.  Hanging on the wall was a most incredible pair of black 1920s lace-up oxfords.  They screamed "BUY ME!!!!" and I said "mmmmmm....really?"  Josie and I conferred for a bit and she insisted they were in fact 1920s shoes and told me that if I didn't buy them that she would.  I bought them.  We both had doubts that my exceedingly wide hobbit feet wouldn't fit them, but much to my delight and surprise, my feet fit quite nicely!!  

My beautiful wool/cotton fabric, divine ribbon (that really does match perfectly but my camera caught the shine of the ribbon and makes it look off) and my crazy cool 1920s shoes!!!!

Super fabulous inspiration came from Etsy (inspiration source).  I LOVE the black french piping and buttons!!!  I have been looking for an inspiration for my salmon dress for a very long time and the moment my eyeballs spotted this dress, my insides leapt for joy as I took in all the delicious details!!  I knew in an instant that the salmon would work if I used black for the french piping!!  I am so excited about this that I am really going to have to force myself to finish the 1895 sailor dress.... 

The dress is very simple, but oh so elegant with its fabulous detailing!!!  Do you see the sweet lipstick pocket on the right side of the drop waist?  Darling!!!  Don't know what to think of the belt buckle and so may leave that off of my dress.

The patterns I plan on using are as follows.....

I am thinking this pattern would be great because of the scoop neck of the bodice.  It will be easy to mutate to my bidding!!!!

The pleated skirt on this pattern will be perfect for the skirt on my dress...and no I didn't pay $15.00 for this pattern!  I'm crazy but not that crazy!!!

Well, I hope by putting this "out there", I will stick to my plan!  I found that now a days, I am severely OCD when it comes to costuming and have many, many "Squirrel!!!" moments....

I either need to become a Time Lord, or locate a Time Turner like Hermione had!!!  Some how, I don't think either of these things is going to happen...

Be blessed my friends!!

g