My 1950s Dress

Right now I am at school and really busy with the myriad activities of Welcome Week. So I thought I'd post about an older outfit. Throwback Thursday, if you will.

These are pictures I took a while back when I first finished making this 1950s dress. I got the pattern from Sense and Sensibility Patterns. All the patterns from that site are based off of real vintage clothing, so it is genuine and true to period while being doable enough for the modern sewer to replicate. The pattern for this dress is simple and so easily customizable (is that a word?). It's perfect for a beginning sewer who loves vintage fashion, or an experienced sewer who loves easy vintage fashion. Just anyone who loves vintage fashion.

I modernized it a bit with a belt and shoes. I kept the accessories minimal because the dress, with its full skirt and 50s silhouette, is quite a statement in itself (and because I'm not very brave. I'll have to play around with it :o).

It was tons of fun to wear such a classic dress.

This is the way I wore it Easter Sunday, with a cardigan, muslin sash and nude heels (and red lipstick, of course!). This is a very 1950s way to wear it. I felt quite glamorous :o). I also ended up playing a friendly one-on-one game of basketball in the dress after Easter dinner (no heels involved, of course). I must say, if you're going to play basketball, do it with style!

And here is a closeup of the print. It was a simply darling cotton calico, cornflower blue with white polka dots and hints of mint. I'm a sucker for mint!

Dress: Homemade using the Sense and Sensibility Ladies' 1958 Dress Pattern

Brown Belt: Maurices

Brown Flats: Payless

Mint Cardigan: Maurices

Nude Sash: Handmade

Nude Heels: Hand-me-downs from a friend (but originally from Wal-Mart, I believe)

Chicago Love

We have so many sunflowers!! I love them! They're so cheery and happy and yellow!

Dress: Mikarose
Belt: Mikarose
Shoes: Sears
Bow Headband: Claires
Jewelry: Gifts


Hello! ♥

This was one of my very first dresses. I've had it for several years and it's still one of my favorites. I bought it for a dance and everyone told me how much they liked it and how pinteresty it looked and it made me so happy and I swore from there on out that I would wear more dresses. I love how modest it is without being dorky or weird looking. The lace part at the top makes it so pretty!

I just got back from a week long vacation in Chicago! I stayed with my aunt and uncle and a bunch of my cousins. My youngest baby girl cousin is the cutest thing ever! She's almost 1 and she claps whenever someone says "Yay!" and she dances to music. She wears THE most adorable dresses ever; like seriously I would wear one of her dresses if they had it in my size. And she loves me a ton; her and I had an awesome time playing songs on the piano together.

We did so many fun things. We went to the park, rode scooters up and down the sidewalks, went to baseball games. I finally know all the rules of baseball now. I didn't think I would enjoy watching sports that much, but I got totally into it and was sad when our team lost and it was all over. We also went to an amusement park for two days and those were literally some of the funnest days of this summer. I am a huge huge roller coaster girl and this amusement park had some of the biggest ones I've ever seen. There was a new one that just opened and we had to wait two and a half hours in line, but it was so worth it! The drop was 87 degrees, so it basically dropped straight vertically down! So.much.fun.

Here are a couple pictures from my Instagram. You should follow me: @rosewendt :)

We got mad skills

Walking around Chicago. Love this city!

So wet after the water ride!

One of my wishes came true. I rode in a hot air balloon :)

It Meant the World

 Shirt: Wet Seal 

Skirt: Dorothy Perkins

Belt: Mikarose

Sunglasses: Claires

Shoes: Payless

Jewelry: Claires and Etsy

Hiiiii ♥

This is my new favorite skirt! I just got it from Thredup and I love it like crazy. The print is so feminine and girlie!

I volunteered at a local nursing home with my youth group today. It was my second time going and I am a little bit scared of old people, but I am making myself go because I need to do things that are outside of my comfort zone. I was the girl that helped all the old ladies bowl. I helped get the ramp straight so they could hit the pins when they pushed the ball off. I also helped wheel some of them back to their rooms in their wheel chairs. One of the old lady's name was Annie and as I was bringing her back to her room, she said "I wish you never had to leave. I wish you could stay with me forever. And your dress is so pretty!" I made me tear up. There was another lady named Ruth who told me all about her son Eugene and how she wished he lived closer to her so she could see him more. These people don't have a lot of visitors and it meant so so much to them that we came there and played and talked with them. It was such a little, easy thing for us to do; we were only there for two hours, but it meant the world to these people. I wish I would have started doing volunteer work sooner, but I am definitely going to continue during college.