1920s Devore Velvet "One Hour Dress"
....More like the 8 hour dress!
The annual Sunday Tea, hosted by the Hobart Manor Revitalization Committee (of which I am a member) and held at Hobart Manor was coming up, and I decided to make a new dress (of course!) because I felt that my pink satin 1920s dress wasn't very flattering. Plus, this year's guest lecturer spoke about voting rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a focus on if/how the characters of the beloved series Downton Abbey could vote.
I felt that the Downton Abbey theme was the perfect catalyst for trying my hand at the 1920's "One Hour Dress." This was a dress that supposedly could be cut and made in an hour, just in time for a spur-of-the-moment evening soiree. I suppose the theory holds true if you don't count the time it takes to cut out the fabric, pin the pieces together (damn that slippery velvet!) and hem the dress by hand (necessary for the delicate chiffon and velvet)!
Festive Attyre has a great One Hour Dress template, and I used this as the basis for my dress. I wanted to add chiffon panels at the sides though, so cut the dress straight all the way down (18 inches wide for the front and back pieces). At the slits at the hips, I folded the extra velvet underneath the chiffon panel. Each chiffon panel was 30 inches wide and gathered with 3 rows of gathering stitches.
Due to time constraints, I didn't finish the neckline of the dress. I didn't even know how I would without further snagging the delicate velvet fabric! Thankfully, it didn't fray during the event.
Yet, the velvet fabric has its flaws: snags, wonky armholes, and unfinished neckline. My initial plan was to bead the neckline and bead the negative spaces between the flowers, but I'm not sure if it's worth it because of this sub-par velvet. I might either remake the dress from the velvet I have left over, or splurge on silk devore/voided velvet instead.
I completed the look with a black satin slip which I'll feature in another post, modern earrings that had a great art deco vibe, and a wig from Wildcat Wigs on eBay. The model is Rose in the color Chestnut, and it only cost about $35. Despite its affordable price, the wig is of very good quality, and is a close approximation to the natural color and sheen of my own hair! I would definitely recommend this wig to people looking for an affordable and attractive 1920s fingerwave style wig.
The annual Sunday Tea, hosted by the Hobart Manor Revitalization Committee (of which I am a member) and held at Hobart Manor was coming up, and I decided to make a new dress (of course!) because I felt that my pink satin 1920s dress wasn't very flattering. Plus, this year's guest lecturer spoke about voting rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a focus on if/how the characters of the beloved series Downton Abbey could vote.
I felt that the Downton Abbey theme was the perfect catalyst for trying my hand at the 1920's "One Hour Dress." This was a dress that supposedly could be cut and made in an hour, just in time for a spur-of-the-moment evening soiree. I suppose the theory holds true if you don't count the time it takes to cut out the fabric, pin the pieces together (damn that slippery velvet!) and hem the dress by hand (necessary for the delicate chiffon and velvet)!
Process
For this dress, I used some polyester devore velvet, or voided velvet, which I had bought last year, intending it for a 1920s dress. The quality of this fabric is poor; the velvet pile is very short, stiff, and bristly, and the mesh in between is actually a fine knit which snagged very easily; I actually have huge snags all over the side seams from inserting pins into the fabric! Since the fabric was a knit, it also had a tendency to curl and stretch at the edges, making pinning a nightmare. I swear that anytime I put in a pin, an invisible goblin immediately shifted it out of place! Also, I'm not sure if it was due to the fabric shifting or me not accurately cutting, but somehow one armhole came out 1 inch lower than the other! Both armholes turned out much lower than I'd like them to be.Festive Attyre has a great One Hour Dress template, and I used this as the basis for my dress. I wanted to add chiffon panels at the sides though, so cut the dress straight all the way down (18 inches wide for the front and back pieces). At the slits at the hips, I folded the extra velvet underneath the chiffon panel. Each chiffon panel was 30 inches wide and gathered with 3 rows of gathering stitches.
Due to time constraints, I didn't finish the neckline of the dress. I didn't even know how I would without further snagging the delicate velvet fabric! Thankfully, it didn't fray during the event.
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| Note that the chiffon panels stand out from my hips so much because the slip I'm wearing underneath is quite voluminous at the hips. |
Final Verdict
I love the design and final look of the dress. Despite its issues, I like the large floral pattern of the velvet and the way it catches the light differently at different angles. The dress embodied, in my opinion, both the 1920s aesthetic and the one hour dress silhouette. The fit of this dress is also substantially better than my first 1920s dress, the beaded pink satin number.Yet, the velvet fabric has its flaws: snags, wonky armholes, and unfinished neckline. My initial plan was to bead the neckline and bead the negative spaces between the flowers, but I'm not sure if it's worth it because of this sub-par velvet. I might either remake the dress from the velvet I have left over, or splurge on silk devore/voided velvet instead.
