1923 Dress, The Winslow Boy & Enchanted April

For years my mother and I have loved the film "The Winslow Boy"(the 1999 version). The film is set around 1913, if I remember correctly. The character played by Rebecca Pidgeon wears these delicious drop-waist dresses that weren't very common in the 1910s. There were little pockets of fashion where these sneaked out, and I've tried to hunt them down. Whether or not her clothing is historically accurate, I love it and have wanted to recreate some of it for a long time. 

One of the beautiful drop-waist dresses in the film. 

The sailor middy blouse - a pattern from the 1910s. 

The dress in the upper righthand corner has a loose, drop-waist silhouette. This is from 1916,
NY Public Library. 

There is also a clothing pattern available from Wearing History of a woman's coat from 1913 that has a drop-waist. It looks a lot like the tweed jacket Lady Mary wears at the end of Season 2 in Downton Abbey: 

Lady Mary's shooting jacket. Very similar to the dress pattern above (please follow the link). The episode takes place at the end of WWI, but perhaps it could be an earlier coat of Lady Mary's? 

Several years ago I found some fabric online that reminded me of one of the dresses in "The Winslow Boy". I started it probably two years ago, and only just finished it. 

The inspiration dress from The Winslow Boy

The dress pattern I used was from Past Patterns for an evening dress, circa 1923. As with other dresses I've made from movies that inspire me, mine is not an exact copy, nor did I completely follow the look of dresses from 1923 (I made my hem a lot shorter). But I wanted a dress that nodded to the one in the film. For years I've also wanted a dress from the era of Enchanted April, a book which was published in 1922. There was a film adaptation (also made in the 1990s) that I've also loved for many years. So now I feel like I've killed two birds with one stone with this dress. 

From Enchanted April (1991). Polly Walker as Lady Caroline Dester

Dresses from 1922, which have a much longer hem than my dress. 

Here are some photos of my dress that I finished and wore for the first time on Easter Sunday: 

The silhouette does fit the early 1920s better than the 1910s. I'm happy with how it turned out. 

I wore it with my American Duchess London Oxford shoes. 

April Catch-up

It's been a little busy the past few weeks. There was a personal event that took place down in Utah, and a lot of Nick's family was able to come out for it (perhaps I'll post about that later). Other things that have been happening: I had a poetry meeting at my house, which was wonderful, I also participated in a monthly art stroll at the beautiful Romance Theater, where I was able to sell a few poetry books, talk about book arts & help people make pamphlets. 

I don't have a picture of the outside of the Romance, but here's the theater part, which has been excellently restored!

In the foyer of the Romance, with my collection of hand-made books, supplies for making pamphlets, and two of my poetry books for sale. 

Another big thing that's happened since my last blog post is the decision my husband & I made to move back east and try to find a spot that suits us best. We'll be looking in upstate NY, but will be looking in the east coast and maybe the south as well. For several reasons, we feel like it's time to move on. 

The weather has finally started to be warm and pleasant. Last week we went for a walk near the Snake River. We found an old farm with lots of abandoned buildings, but weren't able to take a close look, as it was on private property. When I was in Scotland, I learned about the right-of-way there: that if you're on foot and not trying to change or destroy anything, you are able to walk wherever you like, whether it's private property or not. So whenever I see a "No Trespassing" sign, I get pretty frustrated. I'd love to just be able to walk through those gates and look around. Oh, well. I got a picture of one of the buildings from a safe distance. 

A little cactus grove

I love finding bones out in the desert.

One of the derelict buildings.

Lots of pretty river stones all along our walk.

Also, I wanted to remind everyone about my new Newsletter site (It's kind of like a blog too, and I've been going crazy with it lately creating a virtual Book Club). But if anyone visiting this blog would consider becoming a paid subscriber, that would be helpful and supportive and so nice of you! It's also called Magpie Tidings.