1950's Housewife

Today was a 50's themed bridal shower for my sister-friend. I got the idea for the theme from my cousins. It turned out nice, there were about 12 people who showed up (counting us). Very family oriented. The best part was seeing those who chose to dress up.

Back when I started planning this several weeks ago, I thought it would be easy to dress up for the shower. I planned on wearing a button-up shirt, skirt, and apron with pearls. Well, Thursday I tried on the skirt I was thinking of and it didn't fit like it did when I bought it. Turns out I didn't have an outfit, and I was throwing the party. Friday I decided I would make a skirt, a simple one. I looked up tutorials online for simple skirts and circle skirts. The circle skirt was big in the 50's, but you need a zipper and I wasn't in the mood for that effort. I decided to do a simple gathered skirt, two rectangles for the front and the back and a rectangle for the waistband. Easy. Things are always easy until I do them. I measured my waist and how long I wanted the skirt. I did everything right, except I didn't think when I cut out the front and back rectangles. They were 26 in. (length) by 53ish in. (width). Now, had I been thinking, one of these rectangles would have been plenty for my skirt; I didn't need two. I wasn't thinking and I went ahead and began sewing. I even made sure there were no raw seems (every now and again I decided I want to do this). Then came time to attach the waistband. There was so much material I couldn't gather the skirt. My basting stitch broke and I didn't care. I knew it wouldn't work to try and sew all those gathers. I decided to do a box pleat (a tutorial I had seen explained them). This worked like a charm. I'm glad to say it wasn't difficult, just time consuming because it's one of those things that have to be exact, you don't wing it. So, when all was said and done, it took 3-3 1/2 hours, but the skirt is awesome. I love it and I felt very 1950's housewife making it the night before.

TERRIBLE picture of myself, so look at the skirt.

Front

Pleats

Closure (upper left)

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