Buttons and Lace

This dress is a delightful mixture of the old and the new!  The fabric and lace were bought new... the buttons are out of a quart-size jar of vintage ones that I bought at an antique shop.  I stitched all the seams by machine and all the buttonholes by hand.  I used a new release of a vintage pattern (Vogue 1044).

I am still charmed by the details on this dress, although I would like to adjust the fit of the bodice - I think it is slightly too long in the front (though I only added 1.5" instead of my usual 2"), and so it makes an unflattering "pooch"above the belt if I do not constantly tug it down.  I also realised that I need to put another snap on the front placket - it gaps open a little bit.  I originally planned to make a different dress with this fabric and so there was not enough to make the extremely full skirt the pattern called for.  I like what I ended up with but someday I would like to make this again with its intended skirt.

Tiny gap at the waist.

Not-very-full skirt.

But I love the belt, with its handworked eyelet holes and its vintage brass horseshoe buckle!

And I love the old shell buttons, each one slightly different, buttoned through their hand-stitched buttonholes.  (Even if the hand-stitching leaves a great deal to be desired.

I love the pintucks down the front, contrast-stitched in white for greater impact.

I love the white lace at the hemline!  The skirt was boring before.

And especially I love the facing of the bodice.  I ran out of fabric and had to cut it out of this pretty madras plaid -- and I am so glad I did!

It has a few fitting issues that I should have caught earlier, but I love the bodice of this dress - so sweet and old-fashioned.