1940s Swing dress done!

Hey everyone! I was inspired to finish the swing dress this morning and now its finished!  I adore it and wanted to wear it all day today, but thought I should save it for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary celebration that my family is going to on Tuesday. We will be gone to see them and the rest of my mom's side of the family for 2 weeks! I can't believe it. Its going to go by so fast too.

I never thought when I was a little girl I would learn how to sew. To tell you the truth I guess I thought naturally all clothing came from the store already made.  Then my sister had an interest in sewing clothing herself and I was interested, but after many attempts to sew a garment, it usually ended in frustration. Then about 3 years ago this October, I decided to try my hand at it again when we dove into civil war reenacting. That was my introduction to sewing again and after sewing the underpinnings and a civil war dress, I can sew modern garments pretty easily with a little fiddling. :)

No this dress is not perfect and you would see that with up close photos, but its a great church/everyday dress style for me. I am going to sew some more of these in the future. I would highly recommend Jennie's pattern to intermediate seamstresses. It was a little difficult on those shoulder seams and getting the bodice to fit right. But I did this dress all by myself! The first modern dress I have ever done! Its exciting! 

I decided not to put in a zipper as Jennie says in her pattern. I used the Sense and Sensibility swing dress pattern. You can see her website here.

I also omitted the ties in the back. I was really wanting to get this done and could not find the tie pattern piece and did not feel as though I wanted to figure it out myself. :) I used a polyester semi sheer fabric I scored at Joann fabrics in March for about $8.00 for all three yards. It was on the red tag clearance table and I was so excited to sew up a dress out of it. I started seeing what patterns we had available in our stash and always wanting a 1940's swing dress, the journey of sewing this dress began in May.

You can see my pictures of starting it here.

I also changed the bodice somewhat. I wanted the waist band to not be over my tummy and to be at my natural waist, so I made the bodice shorter and put the waist band higher. I am very satisfied with that! Its much more flattering. :) I did have to change the bodice as it was too big in the bust for me. I did not change the skirt a bit, except I did find it was a little too big when I was putting it to the bodice, so I added a pleat in the front. This was probably because of the seam allowance in the skirt for the side zipper that I omitted. I am not going to lie, its a little hard to get the dress over my head, but with a little wiggle and being pretty careful it can be done. :)

Oh and the belt I added last minute when Bethany, my sister, did the photos and I love it! It was one dollar at the thrift store and the shoes were $3.00 as well, from the thrift store. I love the overall finished outfit!

Have a lovely day and one more post coming Saturday before we leave for my grandparents home!

In Christ,
Rebecca