Isn't this pattern adorable? It's so pretty ... I wish it were a bit bigger, but it's such an old-fashioned, teen-at-first-boy/girl party kind of dress. I would have worn this to DEATH when I was fourteen. I would have been like a preschooler with a favorite pink shirt, demanding to wear it every day (thus making you wash it every night).
Anyway, this pattern is at MOMSPatterns, and it's Jen's (and MOMSPatterns) one-year anniversary today! And she's offering us a 20% discount to celebrate!
Jen says: "Use coupon code oneyear20 in your shopping cart when placing an order and your savings will be reflected when you check out. Sale starts NOW and will end at midnight, EST on Sunday, September 16. You'll be able to use that coupon again and again throughout the sale, so check back daily for new inventory to snag!"
There's also a new search on her site called Memory Lane which allows you to find patterns by copyright date! I love this ...
So happy anniversary, Jen, and thanks!
What a perfect dress. I was going to ask if it has a sleeve option or just a jacket, and then I remembered I haven't been a B32 since I was sixteen.
Posted by: Joni | 08/31/2007 at 10:59 AM
I watched "Elephant Walk" yesterday - for probably the 50th time - and thought about you with each new dress Elizabeth Taylor sported. One of them was similar to this one, but a bit more sarxy around the bust.
Posted by: The Momma Chronicles | 08/31/2007 at 11:10 AM
Happy Happy, Miss Jen!Wow. One year already?-Janet of the corn
Posted by: zimmersarmy | 08/31/2007 at 12:01 PM
How perfectly cute! I keep encouraging my granddaughters to wear vintage clothes - I'd be willing to make the clothes. But, they are way into showing their belly buttons still. I have a picture of a cousin wearing something similar -- way back when.........
Posted by: Ladygrande (Texas Marie) | 08/31/2007 at 12:02 PM
Nice - we really need to stop looking for patterns that fit us, and rather, diet and exercise so we can look good in them, unstead of just wear them! I will be the first in line at the Fat Farm; I know how to do it, but for the discipline! Ah! THERE'S THE RUB! I wish I could wear these types of dresses. Perhaps the rest of America does not wear or sew them because they too have gotten heavy. There's an article in here somewhere...
Posted by: Adrienne | 08/31/2007 at 12:49 PM
Sadly, only major breast-reduction surgery would put me in this one (and what would be the point, then?). But I am working towards no longer having to alter the WAISTS of patterns that fit me through the chest ...
Posted by: Erin | 08/31/2007 at 12:51 PM
Thank you for the well wishes, Erin! I appreciate everyone's support and hope you can find something you can use!Have a great weekend and if anyone buys this pattern? Could we PLEASE see what you do with it? It's really screaming for an uber cool novelty print..
Posted by: Jen ~ MOMSPatterns | 08/31/2007 at 01:14 PM
Happy Happy Happy Anniversary, sweetie! And many Mooooooreeee!And I love the pattern.......I'd wear it right now (if I could find the proper waist-cincher.......LOL)
Posted by: CEMETARIAN We Dig Memories | 08/31/2007 at 04:47 PM
Ooh I have this pattern! I bought it on ebay and it arrived in the mail last week. Now I have to decide which fabric to use out of the extensive stash...print or plain, stripe or spot?
Posted by: kitty | 08/31/2007 at 07:08 PM
all the dieting and discipline in the world would never help me fit that particular pattern. Why do they look so sad in such pretty dresses?
Posted by: theresa | 08/31/2007 at 08:11 PM
Of topic, but I could not post yesterday. The regulation purse for female military is a plain black leather coach. Get a friend, relative -- someone -- who can go to the PX, (or BX for the Air Force) to sign you in so you can buy one
Posted by: Anonymous | 08/31/2007 at 08:21 PM
Sad? No, miffed. The girl on the right is miffed because the girl in the back has got the same dress and she has a jacket to match.The girl on the left is seriously miffed because she didn't think of the stripes first! :-DThey all used to be best friends, but now they aren't speaking. Aren't 14 year olds fun!?
Posted by: xstpenguin | 09/01/2007 at 06:44 AM
This looks a bit like the Siren sun dress pattern offered by Decades Of Style.I had a 32" bust when I was a skinny young runner, but not the waist or hips to go with it. Like all the women on my mother's side, I'm an extreme pear and no amount of diet or exercise is ever going to change that. Exercise is worth doing for it's own sake, but the whole point of sewing your own clothes is that the clothes can fit you, not vice-versa.Anyway, clothes are designed on dress forms, not real human bodies. Exercising solely to make one's self to look like a fiberglass dress form seems a bit surreal and backwards.
Posted by: Anonymous | 09/01/2007 at 07:56 AM
I was waiting for someone to psychoanalyze this pattern envelope- it was too irresistible since the girls are each haughtily looking away from each other. I love the pattern. I've been looking all over everywhere to try to find some vintage patterns that will fit into my budget (which is currently next to $0). Yesterday, I unearthed some patterns for which my grandmother sent away to the Philadelphia Inquirer. It was a serendipitous find, to be sure- especially since she was about my size when she was younger! Plus, the patterns are really cute.
Posted by: Susan Marie | 09/01/2007 at 08:09 AM
This pattern got the thumbs-up from my 14-year-old daughter. Then she wanted to know if I was going to get her one! Um, no dear, Mommy doesn't sew :-).
Posted by: Dani in NC | 09/01/2007 at 05:43 PM
Ohhhh...if only it were available in a B38. [sigh]A quick and maybe silly question: when you sew up that dress, will the skirt really floof out like that? Or is this a 1950s artist thing, accentuating the hips on pattern drawings? Or is this one of those where you need a crinoline? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Miss Kitty | 09/01/2007 at 11:08 PM
You'll definitely need a crinolin. Without one the skirt is just going to droop sadly.
Posted by: Una | 09/03/2007 at 04:23 AM
Absolutely gorgeous dresses!
Posted by: miss vintage love | 09/03/2007 at 08:13 AM
I've been loving your full skirts lately. Have you been watching "Mad Men" on AMC this summer? I am enjoying the show but particularly the FASHIONS, it's just super.
Posted by: scormeny | 09/04/2007 at 04:57 PM
Pattern illustrations DO exaggerate the small waist and pouffy skirts; even fashion photos hide the clothes pins and duct tape used in the back of the garment to achieve the desired effect. You have to be a real sleuth to read a pattern, to find your correct size, to figure out design ease, and then get the pattern to fit your modern body which has a bigger waist because it isn't used to the confinement of girdles and waist-cinchers. (The computer program just underlined 'cinchers.' Is it THAT old a word?) Does anyone know of a service for grading patterns for individuals? I googled 'pattern grading' for the SF Bay area and found mostly commercial companies. I had heard of a company that would do it that charged by the pattern piece and by the number of sizes of grade change. If you think about it, that could get pricey...I can alter a pattern to fit me, but I just don't know how to first grade up from a 32 to a 42 bust!
Posted by: saidee | 09/06/2007 at 08:49 PM
My mum has that actual pattern, she made me that dress - with stripes. Excellent.
Posted by: dancingmorganmouse | 09/12/2007 at 06:48 AM