1947 Inspired Cap-Sleeve Dress

I've decided to save money and reproduce my own vintage style dresses and clothes. These clothes will be a custom fit to my frame. Woo hoo!

My current dress making project is a 1947 vintage cap-sleeve dress. I've chosen to do this dress in a cobalt blue satin. The dress is self-lined with minimal gathering, so a beginner could really make this dress with minimal effort. All that is really requred is knowledge of sewing terms and the knowledge of how to run a sewing machine.

Here is the pattern. Please notice the floral dress, that is the cap sleeve dress that I am attempting to reproduce. At some point in time, I will also make the halter style dress. I am planning to wear the dress to a conservative event, so I chose to go with the cap sleeve dress for now.


Here is a swatch of the satin that I am using for this dress. It is a machine washable, easy to care for fabric, which was important to me when I was selecting fabrics. Plus, the blue is just beautiful!

Here is the machine I am using. It is a Singer Stylist 833. This model is older than me, but Singers are awesome machines and this one is no exception. I've found ones just like mine on ebay for about $10.00. If you want to learn to use a machine, this machine is very user friendly. Singer also carries all the manuals for all their machines ever made on their site for purchase in case you don't have the manual. It is a great resource to have.


Here is a shot of the front of the dress as it looks right now.


Here is the back view.


Anyway, I'll probably let you follow me through this whole project, and when I start my next dress/gloves/hat/purse, I'll let you follow along step by step so you can also make your own clothes and accessories.