My Oldest Work In Progress

When I retrieved the clothes that I had saved from the attic I found this dress.
I realized it was never worn because I never finished it. The hem still had the pins in it. I found them after I washed it. There was not even a speck of rust on the pins. I do believe I have a box of pins from that era somewhere in my pharmacy cabinet.



I was able to date the time I constructed this dress from the buttons. Ship and Shore blouses had identical buttons to what I used on this dress. I always tried to copy good ready to wear and searched all over to find just the right buttons and notions so my clothing would not have that "made at home with loving hands" look.



Another tell tale clue are the double box pleats I made to pleat up 3 widths of fabric to fit my 24 inch waist.
I loved making pleated skirts and tried every style I could imagine. This is the only one from that time period that has survived all these years. Everything else was given away or thrown away with one exception. I will be showing you a wool skirt and top in the future. Just waiting for my model to return!

It is amazing that this is in such good condition because it was stored in various hot attics, in cold garages that would have had mice and various other locations over the years. I took no special care of it and it was stored in both open and closed cardboard boxes.

Shirtwaist dresses were also very popular in the 50's.

I would date this dress from 1956 which makes it 54 years old - and still not finished!