Let's Salute the Navy! A 1942 Sailor Dress With Princess Seams
This pattern is inspired by a 1942 Hollywood Patterns sewing pattern for a sweet A-line dress with elegant princess seams in front and back, a V neck with sailor collar and jaunty tie, and optional sash that ties in the back of the dress.
View 1 has folded cuffs on the short sleeves. Both the sailor collar and sleeves are embellished with double rows of 1/8" wide soutache.
View 2 offers the option of sewing simple hemmed sleeves without the folded cuffs.
Though not offered in the original pattern, a dickey is provided that can be added to fill in the neckline if desired.
Explore your creativity beyond the nautical look and sew the dress in pretty florals, stripes, or ginghams. Sew the collar and cuffs in contrasting colours or prints. The collar and cuffs can also be left off entirely for a simple and pretty V-neck dress, perfectly appropriate to the 1940s. See my Testers’ Gallery for inspiration!
If you wish, substitute soutache with:
• Baby rick rack, satin ribbon or bias tape that is ⅛”, ¼” or ⅜” in width (adjust your placement lines if necessary.)
• Decorative sewing machine stitches.
• Embroidery floss. Tester Dawn Rokovitz made her “soutache” by butting together two 6-strand threads of embroidery floss, applied to the collar with a zig zag stitch in a matching thread colour.
The pattern introduction explores nautical style in women's fashion during World War II and how it evolved from the playful fashions of the 1930s into a more tailored and military-influenced look. This is seen in patterns, catalogues and women's magazines from all the Allied nations. Embellishments like braid, soutache, cord, embroidered crests and badges mimicking those on naval uniforms were essential in achieving this look, and were widely available by catalogue. They were sewn to the sleeves, collars and fronts of blouses and dresses. The double rows of soutache used in "Let's Salute the Navy!" are a direct nod to these creative and patriotic home sewists.
Techniques included in the pattern: applying soutache, making a V-neck sailor collar, sewing a princess seam, setting a puffed sleeve, making a folded cuff, hemming a curved hemline.
This PDF sewing pattern, by Eighteen Cotton Lane, is designed to fit popular 18" dolls such as those shown in the photos.
Suggested Fabrics: Light to medium weight cotton, cotton blends, shirting, linen, broadcloth.
Supplies Needed:
• Yardage: 2/3 yard of 44” wide fabric for the main dress fabric.
• Scraps of contrasting fabric for the tie and the optional dickey.
Notions:
• 1 ½ yards of 1/8” (3 mm) wide soutache.
• Small piece of lightweight fusible interfacing.
• Four snap sets OR four ¼”- 3/8” buttons OR 9 inches of soft ¼” hook and loop tape for dress back closure.
• Two snap sets to attach optional dickey.
• Fray Check or similar product – this is essential when sewing with soutache.
Skill Level: Intermediate
What You Get: One 42 page sewing pattern that you digitally download as a PDF file so you can start your project immediately! The PDF sewing pattern provides full color step-by-step instructions and full size pattern pieces. A PDF reader is required to view and print the files (example: Adobe Reader or Preview for MAC). The download link is received immediately after the transaction is complete. Print copies are NOT available.
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