The 1470: Lillian's 1920 Summer Voile

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked why I hadn't "jumped on the 1470 bandwagon".  Of course, this question was asked online, so when I shook my head in confusion, it wasn't noticed.  Last summer when I spotted Doug James hanging out at Ed's booth (of Happily Ever After), and saw what he had on his table, I was already way ahead of the bandwagon.  First of all, seeing and meeting Doug James was the highlight of convention last year.  I must have been one of his biggest fans of the Willow and Daisy series.  And now he'd managed to make a reproduction of "Kitty Hudson", the 1469 antique flapper doll I'd dressed for my friend, in the exact proportions and at a non-antique affordable cost.  I put my order in right then and there.  And waited.  And waited.  Very patiently mind you, for the doll to come out.

My memory is poor, which is why I keep journals, but I think she came out around Christmas last year.  As usual, I have multiple projects on the table, and by the time she arrived, I

was happy to tuck her away for a rainy day.  I had her!  What more did I want?  Okay, more.  How about a proper doll stand that supports and poses her nicely?  We'll get to that later.  But I was in no hurry to sew flapper fashions or 1920's couture as I honestly had "just finished" a series of such costumes.  However, my friend's inquiry, bandwagon reference aside, got me thinking.  It became more of a challenge, a niggling.  Why hadn't I "joined the bandwagon"?  Because I don't jump on bandwagons.  After watching doll costumers begin making 20's couture for their new 1470's, it reminded me of the French Fashion craze, that for all intents and purposes, still seems to be going on.  I'm a stubborn little thing, and I like to do different things.  I like to surprise myself by coming up with the unexpected.

All that said, a week later I asked Kitty's maman about this fashion book she'd loaned me, as I wanted to purchase a copy of it.  You might recall my praising Tina Skinner and Lindy McCord's Flapper Era Fashions from the Roaring 20's.  This is 

still my go-to for inspiration, but in the process of acquiring a copy, I found Everyday Fashions of the Twenties.  This gem, by Dover Publications, is similar with lavish illustrations from catalog companies for the new ready-to-wear or pret-a-porter of the times.  Both are must haves for inspiration. With Tina and Lindy's, you'll get color pages and interpreted descriptions.  In Stella Blum's book, you'll get the catalog's description of what the garment details, and the color selections.  

When I spotted this voile summer dress from the year 1920, I knew I had to make it.  Was it "flapper"?  No.  And maybe that gave me the nudge I needed.  I could sew for the doll and not have to pile onto that happy, noisy bandwagon jostling down the road.  Yet, anyway.  History is a marvel if you pay attention to it.  Why, in the early 20's, did the fashions still look like those of 1910?  1911's Lettie Lane and Daisy?  In an effort to return to normalcy as the trauma of WWI came to a close, people wanted to go back to the way things were before.  Fashions literally reverted back to those of 1913-1914 as though the years that followed needed the wiping of a clean slate.  The new view of how women should dress began in 1909 with the course towards liberation.  But in 1920, even as fashions took a step 

back, changes were imminent with an acceleration towards the ideal of younger and more youthful looks.  Freedom of movement, increased affluence, working women who not only had the vote, but paid vacations and more leisure time. Clothing became simpler in style as women became more active in leisure and sports.  No matter how exciting this all must have seemed, change takes place over time.

Lillian's summer voile dress (that's what I've named her, Lillian), is an example of the last of the dresses of this kind, and would have been worn with a corset, which we all know took a deep dive in a couple of years.  I hate to say this, but when I look at a lot of daywear in the flapper era, the first thing that comes to mind is "frumpy clothing".  Its frumpy!  All the dresses look like bags they threw over their heads and did housework in.  Which they were.  However, we can make them pretty, and if everyone is wearing a bag, then you're in fashion.  As a person who hates tight clothing, I would have loved to live during this era of fashion.  But, because I loved this illustration, I was going to make this voile dress. 

I bought myself a yard of very expensive 54" wide white voile.  Its a delicate cotton that lends itself beautifully towards fabric dying, and nightgowns.  The choices in the ad said the dress came in Orchid (purple), Cophenhagen (blue), and Reseda (green).  As this would be a summer dress, I chose to dye the fabric a muted celery color.  I had some old tubs of dye and set to work with small sample strips of cloth.  Nothing was working!  I couldn't get the fabric to dye!  A week later and a few phone calls to Dharma Trading, I discovered that dye doesn't last forever, and I needed to buy new dyes.  I purchased Wasabi, Citrus Yellow, and Sage.  I just

had this feeling I might have to mix colors.  Two weeks into experimentation, I discovered and concluded that Wasabi would dye the voile the shade I wanted, but the entredeux, cotton though it may be, would not dye the same color.  So, I kept experimenting until I got it right.  A mix of Citrus Yellow and Sage gave me a color for the entredeux close to the Wasabi of the voile.  What I'm trying to convey is to not take dye for granted.  You can't just pop all the stuff in the same tub of dye and expect it to come out the same color.  Dying is a science.  Its chemistry.  Treat it with respect and 

patience, and you'll get some beautiful results.  For cottons, buy the Fiber Reactive Dye.  It works in a cold bath with a ton of salt and a pinch of soda ash at the end to set it.  Please test your fabric first.  A quarter teaspoon of dye may be all you need.  I ruined a blouse of my own trying to get a peach sherbet color and it came out orange.  I've also been experimenting with dyes because I had to dye fabric yellow for the Petit Filles doll project.  I've been at this awhile. 

So, onto the dress now.  Pattern time.  I spent more time trying to figure out what was going on in this illustration than on any other project I've ever done.  I still look at that illustration and shake my head.  First of all, the woman is not in proportion.  She'd be 7 ft. tall to pull off that dress the way its drawn.  But it gave me a great reference to go by.  Bottom line, I made this fabric.  The only thing I didn't do was weave the voile on a loom.

Every pattern piece is pintucked and edged with ruffle edged entredeux.  Entredeux lace being the stuff with the holes in it.  How do you attach ruffles to entredeux?  There was only one video on the Internet describing this process and the very excitable girl was attaching a big piece of "lace" to a towel with huge ruffles on the bottom edge.  Not only that, some of the dress's design had ruffles both on the top and bottom sides of the pintucks, then applied the dress.  I don't normally do this, but if you can decipher what I did from this end-snippet, I hope it helps if you ever wish to try it.  I'm going to spend a few minutes trying to describe this to you, because this process is how the entire dress was made.

Sew the pintucked fabric to the entredeux. Stitch as close to the "ladder" as possible.  Let's call this holey stuff a ladder. Iron back the cotton edging.  If you want, 

you can trim off that cotton edging close to your stitching, then zigzag the fabric edge and ladder together.  You will do this with the ruffle.  Only with the ruffle (that's a 1/2" ruffle you're looking at), you lay the ruffle's gathered edge under the ladder so you can see the gather stitch inside the ladder rungs and pin it.  Stitch the ruffle to the edge of the ladder as close as possible, then trim off the edges from top and bottom.  Again, zigzag the ruffle edge to the ladder edge.  This is strong and stable.  Got nothing else better to do on a hot summer's afternoon?  Play with this some.  What you're doing to creating a ruffle-edged entredeux lace that is normally sold factory made such as Swiss Lace.  I do not think I've seen real entredeux with a ruffle edge.  Just Swiss Lace.  I could be wrong.  I have my moments.  

Before I started worrying about how the bottom of the dress was made, and we have two close rows of ruffle edged entredeux to work with here, I took a photo of the bodice with girdle, as they called it.  Girdle that "forms a sash in the back".  More half inch ruffles.  It took me a very long time to make this dress because the detail work, which

was ALL of it and was such a strain to the eyes and shoulders and my patience.  A little every day.  Just a little every day to the finish line.  I really did not think I'd get past the bodice.  That's why I took a picture of it.  I was not hopeful.  

First of all, I had to interpret fifty-some-odd pintucks into what would look right on the 14" doll, plus how long pieces of the dress "skirt" should be, so that I could comfortably include two ruffles times two.  I'm particularly proud of that collar.  I didn't think I'd even get that figured out since its a collar made of pintucks.  I guess one of the nicest things about this dress are the buttons.  Kitty's maman told me that MOP buttons should dye nicely.  Mine didn't.  Even with the new tubs of dye.  So I recalled these wonderful tinted buttons people use for French Fashion sewing and the green color was perfect for my muted celery.

May I be honest?  I always am when I blog anyway.  I told a friend of mine I hated this dress.  Then I felt bad.  I don't hate this dress.  I hate the trauma it put me through.  Or to be more correct, why do I do this kind of stuff myself?  Torture myself trying to create the impossible? 

Well, beautiful Lillian is going to get her flapper dress after all, and maybe a few other things.  This doll is wonderful to sew for.  She is not wonderful to try to put on a stand though.  In these photos, she is on a Poppy Parker telescope stand.  That narrow saddle fits her.  However, this doll's legs are about as stable as Bleuette's with loose elastic.  They go everywhere.  So now I'm on a mission to make a stand that works for her.  I've been trying unsuccessfully.  I think I need a wood one with just a dowel post and ribbon pegged to it.  However, for the stability of the legs, you can't beat a good saddle stand. It just needs to be a THIN saddle and fit snug up her front and backside  I'll keep you posted. 

Below are some lovely images I saved off during the last few weeks of eye strain and frustration.  I truly look forward to making a few garments from the mid to later part of the 20s.  Flapper dresses can be as elaborately detailed as you like, but since I prefer daywear and active wear, I hope my non-existent good senses steer me towards easier projects.

Enjoy the rest of this awesome start to summer!  The summer solstice is just a few days away.  Tuesday the 21rst!  Time to run around naked in the night with flowers in my hair.  If only in my mind!

Love, Melissa

Ruffles again.  Need to find a parasol.

This is more like it.

I want to make this coat!

Summer time!  Need to make this, too.

The coffee can dolls.

The kind of house Lillian would have lived in.