Jen B. sent me this eBay link and I am in LOVE. Not only is this taffeta, in a gingham check, with fancy buttons and binding and POCKETS, AND in very good condition, it's 40B/30W. Usually stuff like this is much, much smaller than that. Go click on the image to see the closeups -- they're really worth it.
This dress really reminds me of one of the first "fancy" (non-cotton) dresses I ever made, about ten years ago now, or more ... a silk dress in a very lightweight (too lightweight for the pattern) brown and cream gingham shirting. (I think I even bought it at Paron's, on one of my first fabric-shopping jaunts in NYC.) I used this pattern, Vogue 1573 (sorry, bad picture, good pattern):
And I made view A, which is the lace version (only mine wasn't lace). I did everything to the letter: used silk organza to interface the midriff and the collar, found perfect brown glass buttons, hand-rolled the hem, invisible zipper ... and that was when I was sewing on the dining room table and always had to pack everything up before dinner. (Well, it was either put everything away or convince Mr. Dress A Day that he really wanted to walk down to Arturo's Burritos with me ... we ate a lot of burritos.) I'd be wearing that dress still if it hadn't lost a heated argument with a leaky pen, dammit.
That does it -- the next fabric I buy (that's not Liberty) will be a nice crisp brown and cream gingham shirting, and I will make a handsome, full-skirted shirtdress in honor of Brown Check Dress the First. And I'll restrict myself to pencils when I wear it.
OMG!!! I LOVE this one. A pair of brown pumps, and I could be doing some serious stylin' for sure. Ok, I admit I am a shoe addict, so every dress I see, I immediately think of what shoes would look great with it. Haha.
Posted by: Absinthe | 07/08/2006 at 09:26 AM
wow, this is so beautiful, and fits with my new-found love of brown (because baby ella thinks everything brown is chocolate-flavored--if only it were so.....).
Posted by: rowena___. | 07/08/2006 at 09:43 AM
R&K is one one of my favorite labels. This one is "Personally Yours", but my favorite is "For the Girl Who Knows Clothes". 50s R&K really had their finger on the fashion pulse of the time. No one was better at creating both stylish and affordable pieces. This dress is a perfect example of that. Later 60s and 70s R&K looses it, but when they got it right, who needed those high priced designers? Many of us saw our mothers and or grandmothers (not to date myself to much!) living their daily lives in R&K. That makes this dress not only a beautiful piece for today, but also a emotional treaty on the women of our past. A good reason to feel the nostalgia of vintage.Diane
Posted by: diane | 07/08/2006 at 10:58 AM
I (HEART) THAT DRESS. (:
Posted by: cheryls | 07/08/2006 at 11:03 AM
Gorgeous! I love that dress.
Posted by: demondoll | 07/08/2006 at 11:16 AM
Absolutely gorgeous. I want one!
Posted by: Summerset | 07/08/2006 at 11:32 AM
Wow! This is stunning. I love it. It looks good even without knowing about the gingham (not visible here). I clicked the link, and I have to say, I also love the little lady who introduces the measurements. The dress made me think of a frock-coat, (This is a good thing, as I have to admit to a little (not) frock-coat fetish!). I know frock-coats are supposed to be double-breasted, but I think it was the shiny fabric, and the way it falls over the hips that made me think of...well, Dangerous Liaisons. Yummy. *muses* I wonder if they make frock-coat patterns for females...?
Posted by: Esther.A | 07/08/2006 at 11:49 AM
I love that dress!
Posted by: Erica B. | 07/08/2006 at 11:52 AM
I don't wear brown. Death warmed over does not look good on me :+( This taffeta dress is so fabby!!! I love it. I could see a redhead in this dress. She would look too gorgeous in it. I just had the perfect pair of shoes to go with this dress. They were bronze with gold trim and a wood heel. They are 40's looking. I just got them dyed black so I can wear them. They accidently dyed the heel black. I have to get it back to the wood look. Arrgh!!Rebecca, I love shoes. I just gave $120 to my shoe man, ouch!!!Rowena, If brown clothes were chocolate flavored. Then brown clothing would be the only color I owned, no matter how gawd awful I looked in the color.I have never heard of R& K. I will now look for the this lable. I have never paid attention to vintage lables. My bad!!!
Posted by: Floridaprincess | 07/09/2006 at 12:01 AM
That dress is GORGEOUS!!! I also do not so brown but LOVE the dress...
Posted by: Anonymous | 07/09/2006 at 05:58 AM
Measurements Are UsAs a faithful reader and hopeless N00b (I really have made my own dress--from scratch, adapting a pattern--but I hand stitched it because My Sewing Maching Tries to Kill (or at least blind) me) I am finally driven to ask.You describe sizes as, say "40B/30W" as if it were motor oil. What does that mean when it's at home? Where does the measuring tape go?Ignorant minds (mine) want to know.
Posted by: carbonelle | 07/10/2006 at 03:19 AM
Awwww bad sewing machine!!! Hang in there :+)
Posted by: Floridaprincess | 07/10/2006 at 03:33 PM
carbonelle: here's a good link, with pictures!http://www.vintagevixen.com/sizing2.asp
Posted by: Erin | 07/10/2006 at 04:42 PM
OMG...I owned this pattern about 13 years ago! I think I even made it, but it was too tight in the shoulders. What a surprise!
Posted by: Rabbit Girl | 07/11/2006 at 12:45 AM
yup, me too erin... I love that pattern....I have it and I take it out and look at it...and put it back on my pattern shelf.......er, have I fashioned a dress...no, I don't think I've made anything for myself...in um, a long time...weird 'cause I used to make 99% of my clothes...now, I sell clothes, and cut them up and repair them....but you so inspire me to get busy...so I'm gonna make repros of vintage dresses with my mega-stash of vintage patterns, vintage notions, and vintage fabrics... ;-)
Posted by: tressie | 07/11/2006 at 12:41 PM
This dress is more than gorgeous! And to think, in my size too...
Posted by: Elizabeth | 07/12/2006 at 04:38 PM
This dress is more than gorgeous! And to think, in my size too...
Posted by: Elizabeth | 07/12/2006 at 04:39 PM
Esther A., Folkwear (folkwear.com) has a frock coat pattern sized for women; however, sometimes Folkwear's cuts can be very iffy indeed. Take a toddle over to trulyvictorian.com; they have some excellent, excellent patterns, which I think would be a better choice. On nearly any of the jacket-style patterns, just take your yardstick and extend the length of the garment for a really beautiful frock coat - or buy the frock coat pattern that trulyvictorian offers (it's by Laughing Moon, but TV carries their patterns, too).Carbonelle, 40B=40 Bust; 30W=30 Waist (no, it's not motor oil!)And I already have the hat, the bag and the boots to go with this ...
Posted by: La BellaDonna | 07/12/2006 at 05:09 PM