A 1920s Beaded Dress

A 1920s dress made of silk chiffon from Dharma Trading and worn over a slip made of yellow China silk from Golden Silks. The dress is tambour beaded with zillions of tiny seed beads from Fire Mountain Gems, and I bought the clip in my headband on Etsy.


I am not in love with this dress. I didn't give it the attention it deserved, and it has quite a few issues that I really should've dealt with before wearing it. I should have shortened the waist which was stretched a little during the embroidery process and weighed down by the beading on the skirt. When I wasn't happy with the fit, I took in the underarams a bit, but I really should've taken in the whole side seams. That would've meant taking the skirt off, but, well, see number one. I also wanted more decoration, beading around the neckline, armscyes, a fuller design, etc. By the end of the beading, I was probably beading about half as densely as when I started. However, due to having whooping cough the summer I made this, I very much Did Not Care, and the dress just got done. I cared much more about the knit beaded bag I made to go with it--beautiful mindlessness!

I still wore the dress twice--to Costume College and to visit a friend in Montana and go out for a 20s themed dinner (where three of my dresses were worn!) and enjoyed wearing it, so that is something, I suppose! While I do hate it when people put their costumes down, at the same time, I think it's good to share that not everyone loves everything they do!


I remain enthusiastic about my beaded bag, and I very much want to make more. The bag is from The Hiawatha Book of Beaded Bags and Chains that I bought on Etsy. It has a Ravelry page here.


This picture perfectly sums up my attitude towards this dress. Plus, I just like the way Aubry of A Fractured Fairytale frames the shot.


My shoe clips (bought on Etsy) though? Possibly the best things ever :)

A few construction pictures are below.

What I've been up to...

While this blog is more of a place for finished projects and tutorials than daily ramblings (for which you should be grateful for), the complete silence of the moment isn't what I want for it either! I do have a few more Williamsburg projects to share (two jackets, a banyan thing and a shortgown of questionable authenticity (linen lined in wool!) but it was for just around the house...), but I've been so engrossed in current projects that I haven't updated.

First--and this project is actually finished--a beaded 1920s dress. Here's a preview of some of the beading on the bodice


It's tambour beading with size 15/0 beads on silk chiffon with a yellow China silk slip. I'll be wearing it at the Costume College Gala.

Next, the very close to being finished apron front plaid 1820s gown.


It just needs the skirt trimmed and attached and a belt. Not bad! I'm happy with how it's turning out, but at the same time, I'm not devoting as much to it as I wanted to with this fabric. I blame one of the worst coughs in the history of the world (see also, reasons for not updating blogs--especially the antique one). Seriously. It should be a good dress though!

And next we have the Grumpy Cat sundress. Yes, you read that right!


I'll be wearing this the day before Costume College. We decided against dressing up dressing up, but...

This will have a narrow skirt from a 1951 pattern. The bodice is from another 1950s pattern that I have. I loaned it out a few years ago, so I'm not sure of the date--I had the my size pattern from it though! I initially had a 1950s Vogue juniors pattern that matched my measurements for this dress, but it had almost seven inches of ease. Even pretending I was wearing a bullet bra, it seriously didn't work! I was going to use the skirt from that pattern, but it had a center front seam, which really wouldn't work too well!

Oh, and my No necklace should be here shortly...