Brown Plaid Silk Dress

Brown Plaid Silk Dress

I made this dress in the spring of 2008 for a fashion show that I was to be in. This was my very first - and still my only - silk dress and I was happy with how it came out. In these pictures, I am wearing the dress with under sleeves/collar and a dark cranberry silk bow at the neck. The bow is sewn into position, not tied, and pinned on with a straight pin. I made a matching belt with a pleated rosette with a black velvet covered button in the center to wear with this dress.

It has a bodice fitted with two darts on each side of the front and a separate skirt, attached to a plain cloth waistband and then basted to the bodice. The bodice opens at center front with hooks and eyes and the skirt opens at the side, making a dogleg closure.

The silk I used for this dress I got for a very inexpensive price on eBay. The width was very narrow - about 20”, if I remember correctly, so altogether I got nearly seventeen yards of it and used most of it to make this dress with a few yards left over.

The skirt is very full all around, over 200”, and is pleated with 1” knife pleats at the sides and front and is tightly cartridge pleated (gauged) in the center back. The skirt was adjusted for length at the top edge, the top edge folded to the inside and the folded edge pleated or gauged and then whip stitched to the waistband. The sleeves are one piece open sleeves with a curved seam and are decorated with bias bands of fringed and gathered silk. Black decorative buttons trim the bodice.

The dress is worn with white cotton lace trimmed under sleeves and a lace trimmed single-layer collar. The collar and under sleeves are removable (the sleeves are actually held in with a few strategically placed straight pins) so that they can be laundered separately from the dress. (In fact, the spring of 2009 was the first time I washed this dress and at that time had it dry-cleaned; dresses of this period were not laundered frequently as the underpinnings and protective outerwear shielded gowns well from body soil or outside soil).

My original intention was to make a matching low evening bodice to go with this dress, either with short sleeves (for dancing) or open sleeves (for other formal occasions). However, the leftover silk I had seems to have disappeared so until I can find it, this will be a day dress, although I did wear this to a formal ball in the spring of 2009.