Mad Men Dress Challenge

I was so excited this year to be able to take part in Julia Bobbin's Mad Men Dress Challenge.  Last year I wanted to take part but being pregnant killed my sewing mojo!  So this year as soon as I heard the challenge had come out I started planning.  Originally I was going to make a different dress but I left it too late to start and then didn't have the pattern I thought I had so I changed my idea.

I wanted to recreate the green pencil dress that Joan is wearing in this picture.  According to Mr Google this is from Season 5.  I say this because, wait for it, I have never watched Mad Men!  Yes, that's right. I have never seen a single episode.  We don't have foxtel so I never started watching.  I've always wanted to get the DVD's to watch it but have never gotten around to it.  I really need to do something about that soon!

So this dress became a mash up of two patterns.  The bodice and sleeves (which I lengthened) come from vintage Simplicity 4650 and the skirt comes from McCall's 5971.  I had to do a little tweaking to get the skirt and bodice to match but apart from that they came together quite smoothly.  On a side note I totally am going to make the vintage pattern again exactly like the green version on the envelope. Super cute!


And this is my final dress!  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  It is going to be perfect when I go back to work.  I feel like it makes my shoulders seem a little wide though.  But apart from that I love the fit and especially the colour.  I used a cotton sateen that I picked up from Spotlight.  In hindsight it probably isn't the best fabric to use because the sheen shows up every crease.  Next time I make a wiggle dress I will use something different.

I had so much fun taking part in this challenge so a big thank you to Julia Bobbin for holding it again.  I already have ideas for some other Mad Men inspired looks to make.  Hopefully Julia runs this challenge again next year because it's a lot of fun seeing what everyone in the blogosphere makes.  Maybe next year I will do something a bit more Betty.  But for now I am headed into Kid's Clothes Week so the next week will be all about sewing for Imogen!