Modes Royale Sashed Sheath

I adore this dress!

This dress was inspired by a 1957 Modes Royale design.

I love Modes Royale patterns.  I have many, many, many plans to make more of their fashions.

Don't be fooled by the basic sheath lines.  This is not an easy dress to make.  The pleated bodice drape, and armholes are very labor intensive.  The armholes are hand sewn onto the dress.

As you can see, I used the scraps from this fashion to make these sheaths.  This is a great design for scraps.  The chiffon sash and bodice drape are leftovers too.

This dress looks great on Poppy too.  It is a little too tight for the Tonner dolls, but I am going to alter the pattern so it can be adjusted to fit the Tonner dolls.

I had a lot of fun with Poppy during this photo session.

I think this dress would be beautiful in a brocade, or a lace.  I may also make a floor length version someday.

To purchase this dress click here.

To purchase this pattern click here.

Travilla's "Evita" Suit

Bill Travilla is one of my favorite Hollywood designers.  He is best known for designing for Marilyn Monroe.  I have recreated several of his costumes already and hope to make many more in the future.

This stylish suit was designed for the 1981 made-for-TV movie "Evita Peron", staring Faye Dunaway.  I never had the opportunity to see this movie and I couldn't find any pictures of it on the Internet, but his many sketches for this movie are wonderful.

I made a gray version of this suit too, I love how it turned out.

The "Frogs" are actually Lazy Daisy stitches.

photo by Maria Muljono

Maria gave me the idea of making the suit in gray.  The suit looks great on the Tonner dolls too.

I thought about making this suit in royal, forest green, and mustard wool.  I think it would look great in these colors, but I made ten red suits and five grey suits in this last batch and I am DONE.

If you are interested in purchasing this pattern, click here.

My First "Mad Men" Reproduction Dress

 

 

 

A couple of summers ago I saw this photo in "TV Guide"  I fell instantly in love with this dress.  I ripped the insert out of the magazine and went fabric shopping.  Of course I would have loved to have found this exact print in a crisp silk, scaled perfectly for Gene and her friends, but dream on!

 

After searching all the fabric stores in the Puget Sound area that I could get to, I found this print at a quilt shop.  I thought it was a pretty good match to the original dress.



 

 

 

"Blue Parasol" Gene is my favorite Betty model.

 

 

 

I loved this design so much I made it in two other fabrics.

 

 

I decided to try this dress on one of my Poppy Parker dolls, I was very pleased how well it fit her.  It also goes well with her era, since Mad Men takes place in the early 60's.  She just needs some red lips now.

 

This version of the dress is sold out.

 

 

My re-styled "Glammed Up" Ivy looks lovely in this version.  While I was sewing these dresses the print kept reminding me of food.  I couldn't figure out why.  Then I dawned on me, red jello mixed with cool-whip!

 

 

I love my "Tornado" Gene with red lips.

 

I have a few of these dresses for sale in two of the different fabrics.

 

If you are interested in buying one of these dresses click here.

 

To purchase this pattern click here.

 



Sound of Music Red Suit

I am still laboring away on my huge batch of  red outfits.  Only 3 more styles to go!

 

This stylish suit was inspired by the 1965 classic "The Sound of Music.

 

The Baroness Elsa Schroeder wore this suit in the film.

 

 

 

I love this backdrop.

 

 

 

And this one too

 

 

 

The blouse is sleeveless to make it easier to dress the doll and because I like the way it looks.

 

To purchase this pattern click here.

Lady in Red

 

This is a red version of Grace Kelly's "Rear Window" cocktail dress.

 

 

For more information about the original design click here.

 

I used chiffon for the skirt to see how it would look, since pleated chiffon is sometimes hard to find.

I love how it turned out.  I also love my balcony backdrop, can you tell?

 

I could see this design in many different colors.  I may try it in pink someday.  If I do, I will not line the shoulder/sleeve pieces.  I wish I hadn't lined them in this version, except I was worried about staining.

 

The model is my restyled "Special Scene" Madra.  She loves wearing red.

 

 

"Dial M For Murder" Red Lace Dress

The beautiful red lace dress in the 1954 film "Dial M For Murder" starring Grace Kelly was also in my huge batch of red outfits. 

 

I am really happy about how the dresses turned out.

 

 

I couldn't decide of Grace's dress was one piece or a dress and a jacket

 

 

I decided to make the dress strapless with a short bolero jacket.  I should add a photo of the dress without the jacket so you can see how nice it looks also as a strapless dress.

 

I found this lace at JoAnn Fabrics.  I used JoAnn's red Cassa satin for the lining.

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I sewed the clipped edging of a lace trim on the bodice, jacket, sleeves and hem.

 

 

 

 

 

I had two differnet red laces in my fabric stash, so I cut out as many dresses as I could out of both pieces.

 Lace 1 from JoAnn's

 

and lace 2.  I liked lace 1 better at first, but I am finding that lace 2 is growing on me.  I am not sure which version I should keep for myself now.

 

If you are interested in puchasing this pattern click here.