Do I need a new dress? No, but so what!

So I finished the 40s blouse last week. And I actually wore it! Its pretty comfy, nice and loose. Not exactly the retro look I had expected, but its a nice addition to my wardrobe. So with the holidays coming up I thought why not make a dress? A nice, satiny, shiny, look-like-a-million-bucks dress. I pored over my patterns for several days. I don't know why it takes me so long to decide, it just does. There were several in my stash I thought about making, some really snazzy ones too. And then I came to my vintage vogue patterns. Some of these I've had for about 4 years now, intending on making them, but never actually, well, making them.

I've been a little intimidated by them. They're beautiful, yes, but complicated looking. But I bucked up, and chose one of the "intermediate" level ones. (We'll see if it is really intermediate) Its Vogue 2401, a 1952 design, with quite the collar:

The red one has longer sleeves. I'm going with that one, mostly because I forgot to shorten the sleeve piece before I cut the fabric. What fabric am I using you ask? Its a magenta, satin. Probably polyester, yes I know, but i got it very cheap. A good thing too, because this dress calls for almost 6 yards. Yesh! Typical vintage style, nothing compared to historical dresses though!

Ironing such a big piece takes a while, let me tell you

it still ended up wrinkled when it came to cutting

Currently the pattern pieces and dress pieces are residing on the living floor in a heap. Soon it will take shape! Holidays here I come!

On the horizon? Well, other than making this dress? I've been thinking about posting on reconstruction era dresses (late 1860s). I'm quite interested in the transition from the huge hoop skirts of the civil war era, to the "natural" form of the 1870s and the bustle skirts of the 1880s. The reconstruction era (to me anyways) seems like a forgotten era in historical fashion, much like the 1830s. 

Look for this post soon!