A 1930s baseball dress for a vintage baseball game.

Good morning everyone. 

It's friday, and you know what that means, a recap of the making of my repro dress!

Okay, so that's not a regular thing to get excited about, but I did a lot of cool projects this past July, and I can't wait to share them all with you.

For months the vintage community around here had been wanting to do a vintage baseball game. The organizer made a Facebook page, reserved a baseball field, and networked and organized as hard as he could to get this game going.

I didn't play baseball, but there was going to be a spectator area where people could set up a picnic and watch the game. I was one of those.

The thing is, I didn't have a thing to wear. I wanted something light, fun and period correct, because a lot of Art Deco people were supposed to be coming and I wanted to hold my own, 30s style.

Shortened the skirt in by 2"

On the Tuesday before the event, I decided to make my button down repro. 

What I thought would be perfect fabric for this dress was the material I was saving for my sewing karma dress nearly two years ago. I thad avoided this dress for a number of reasons. Sizing was one of them. I have a big back yard, and these 30's dresses tend to be pretty flat back there, but this one required very little manipulation in that area, sans a tapering of the waist.

Tapered the waistline.

The mock up went together very quick. The facing pieces are build in (on the front flap anyway) so I only had to worry about having enough fabric because we all know 30's dresses guzzle fabric.

I felt confident about the mock up's fit, and then decided to go on and work on this final. By now it's Wednesday and with all the stuff I've had to do, I only have time after work to make this dress. So, no pressure.

I cut out and overlocked the light striped cotton (I love this fabric) paying as much attention as I could to the stripes. In some cases they matched perfectly which was not the plan, it just fell in line that way. And silly me, as I'm making this dress, I opt to add in some special touches:

I reinforced the button placket and fabric with cotton ribbon.

I added lining to the rever collar.

I added belt loops to the waist and I added stiffening to the tie belt (which was annoying by the way). That way the belt would keep its integrity and look crisp all day.

I added a loop for the necktie to the back of the neckline in order to keep the tie down and off my neck (It was going to be hot outside.).

The pocket.

The cuffs.

And I kept the back pleat on the skirt.

The stripes kinda matched, and some even fell together when alined with the collar.

That looks soooooo cool!

From there it was these great blue buttons. For under the collar, I used white buttons because you wouldn't see the blue ones anyway and I didn't have enough blue ones anyway!

Then the day came and it was time to watch the game in style!

The game was a blast and you can see an exhaustive amount of photos here.

Ta Da! It was a fun sunny day. Everyone should have a day of baseball!