50s Pin Up Dress for Em #1

Have decided to do a range of 1950s inspired halterneck dresses to sell locally. To advertise them, I need a glamorous brunette model, who has the hourglass figure of the classic pin-up girls of the 50s. Enter my mate Em. She's kindly agreed to do a couple of shoots in return for a couple of dresses. These posts will show everything from the making of the dresses to the final shoots, for which I'll be borrowing a couple of classic cars from Dad's garage.

Here's the prototype of the first dress I'm making. (Sorry about the bin bags in the background- my room is my workshop at the moment and I'm in the middle of having a long overdue clearout). It's the classic cinched in at the waist with a voluminous skirt halterneck dress, adapted from a Simplicity pattern. Side zip on the left side seam. A lining hasn't been used in the prototype, but whether or not I include a lining in the finished dress will depend on the choice of fabric for the outer shell. This dress will be fitted to Em, but other versions will be available in standard UK sizes.

View of the halterneck. This has a loop-button fastening.

Tip for prototypes: you don't have to spend a lot of money on calico. Your local dry cleaners will have sheets and duvets from hotels that can't be taken back because of small holes. I picked up several from a dry cleaners in Bath for around a couple of pounds per sheet. They're usually double sheets which means you have plenty of fabric. I managed to make two blazer patterns and this prototype out of one sheet!

Next on the to do list is for Em to have the dress fitted properly, then it's off fabric shopping!! As I'm making several versions of the dress, I might get a mix of fabrics to experiment with: cottons and linens as well as more formal dress fabrics.

Fitting and fabric choices coming soon!