The NoTW Denim "Happy" Shirt Dress

Behold, fanfare of trumpets to signify the completion of the vintage NoTW denim “Happy dress” (see this post for the origins of this moniker).

(Yes, if you look carefully you can see my washing, now that spindly & sickly trees have been felled as part of my garden makeover, but concentrate on the dress please!).  As you can see from the following pictures it has a placket opening rather than buttons all the way through.

The denim came from the amazing Walthamstow shopping frenzy, & although I knew I had bought too much (I was persuaded to buy the small but extra amount left on the roll) I have got enough left for perhaps trousers, skirt- who knows?  I originally thought of making some sweet vintage shorts.  Anyway, I ramble.  The denim is a lovely mid weight- it has some stretch in it which allowed me to cut the ease down in this dress as I was afraid of it being too stiff & ballooning.  Whilst I’m not entirely sure how much my shape differs from the women of the ?80s I did have to alter the pattern for my curves, but that’s usual.  Less usual was the amount of length I had to rid myself of.  I’m tending to the small in stature but have never had to cut out 7″ or more.  Was this drafted for Amazonians, or did it just have an incredibly naff hemlength?  I also lost the sleeve facing so had to cut myself some strips for a continuous lap (& if you read the earlier status report you’ll know that I started sewing this on a romantic weekend away with me & my sewing machine.  I was sadly not prepared enough to pack contingency fabric for missing pieces/ mistakes.  I will know better next time)

I kind of followed the instructions, but made the yoke “my way” to avoid handstitching.  I also changed the order sewing the side & sleeve seam in one go once I had put the sleeves in (with flat felled seams – woo hoo!)

The severe & utilitarian look

I quite liked the look of it with buttons all fastened (I do prefer the more “caj” look though, can’t really see me wearing this done up).  Do you like the serious “utilitarian” face I’m trying to pull too? It is deliberate.  The dress is meant to be worn with a belt, but for showing the shape of it, here are a couple of it without.

I got experimental with the details – used red gingham for the under collar & the inside neckband.  The rose buttons were also from Walthamstow & although lovely are actually plastic , still, they look right even so.

To me denim always asks for top stitching & when I went thread shopping it was suggested that I use buttonhole thread for a bit of oooph rather than triple stitching.  Well, I was very pleased with the right side of the topstitching, but my machine’s shuttle detested it.  (See picture below of the yoke – showing what it looks like underneath).  Too late, unfortunately I had the brainwave to use regular thread in the bobbin, & you’ll see from the cuff that it was much happier.  Trouble is I haven’t gone back & ripped out all of the wiggly topstitching because, well, hum, #cough#, err, um.

Oh yes, the other fancypants detail was inspired by something Roobeedoo said when I made my ric rac polka dot blouse.  She gave me the idea to use it on a hem.  Enter jumbo ric rac- cute I think – thank you for the idea!  I love being inspired by all you clever creative bloggers & commenters.

I’ve now got to work out whether to revisit my sailor jacket (still buttonless) or cut out something new.  Choices are:

1. Navy linen trousers using Built by Wendy pattern
2. Crepe dress muslin (for a wedding at Easter)

I think I’ll have me some lunch & try to not to prevaricate too long as I need to make the most of my week off.  I’ve already got the meal sorted with Nepalise Beef Curry ( Slow Cooking Curry & Spices) bubbling away for the meat eating men in my life- so the rest of the day is mine