The Easiest Button to Button - Butterick 5603 strikes again

Introducing the latest part of my soul, and it's not a horcrux (I'm not so tricksy with a wand and my face doesn't look melted plastic).

It is a Mad Men inspired, button riddled, red extraveganza. Or Butterick 5603 if you want to simplify it.

I'm more than a little bit excited about this dress and for a few reasons.

One: it fits (that's always a relief - my energy IN compared to my energy OUT ratio is seriously out of wack at the moment. Apparently walking up the drive way twice does not burn off a box of doughnuts. Whatever.)

Two: it's red. Enough said.

Three: It fits. Oh wait.

Four: It pulls in and pushes out in all the appropriate vintage ways. I do love me some vintage.

Five: (and this one's my favourite) It has a row of the loveliest fabric covered buttons all the way down my centre back. And who doesn't love buttons. Seriously.

OOoooh yes. Aren't they wonderful? There's 12 buttons folks, and yes dad, I did actually count them correctly this time (father-daughter inside joke).

Why do I love these so much? I can't quite explain it?!! There is just something so immensly satisfying about seeing a row of neat(ish) little matching buttons nestling between each verterbrae.

You want to hear something that makes these buttons even more exciting (to me any way) ...

The button closure at the centre back is ... fake....
Yes sir-ree! I have a fraudulent button closure! Scandelous!

Check it out.

Looks pretty convincing right?!! I knew I wanted buttons down the centre back to mimic this delicious Joanie look which is so vintage appropriate.

But here's the problem that happens with buttons. There always seems to be a bit of pull and stretch where the button meets the button holes and this can look pretty unflattering in the 'rounded' areas. And God knows I have some areas that are rounded.

So to keep things stable and neat with maximum support; I faked it. How cheeky of me! I unashamedly love the result!

     

  

I instead closed the dress with a sneaky invisible zip on the side seam.

 

So sneaky!

Curious about how to make a fake button closure? If you're interested I just might do a tutorial.

This is the third time I've employed the use of Butterick 5603 and that officially puts this pattern in my box of favourites.

Here are the other two vintage dresses that I have made with the aid of this pattern. One 'Peggy Olson' dress and one 'Joan Holloway'. You can see the blog post by clicking on the pictures.

On all three of these versions I altered the skirt to make a pencil shaped skirt. You can see my detailed photos on my skirt alterations on my Peggy Olson dress post.

Side note - how cute are these shoes?!!! They have bows at the back for crying out loud!

My original inspiration for this dress is the fabulous orangy/red dress worn by one of my growing Mad Men favourites: Megan.

I am also in LOVE with the green bow dress worn by the girl on her left (our right). Though in this photo her face looks like she's thinking about vomiting, not how wonderful her dress is. Attitude much?

The dress is made using wool faille that I purchased from Tessuti Fabrics.
This is the first time I have sewn with faille and it was an absolute delight. It was like sewing with butter. It was so soft my Janome would start purring every time it bit into it. The faille has such a lovely drape to it that makes me want to sew up my next ten garments in this fabric.



The dress is fully lined, except for the sleeves. The skirt hem is blind hemmed and I had the buttons covered with the same dress fabric at Button Mania. The woman at Button Mania is superb and she also does fabric covered belts. Her work is precise.

 

I added a brooch for a simple vintage touch which breaks the solid red of the dress in just the right way.

I bought it recently from a little store in the city (Melbourne) and I held it greedily to my chest like Gollum and 'the ring'. Note, there was more than a small part of me that was a little bit dissapointed on discovering that the brooch didn't render the wearer invisible.

 

I added sleeves, just like with my previous two dresses.

 

And a collar front and back, just like the inspiration dresses.



You can see how I drafted the collar on my previous 'Peggy Olson dress' blog post.

I really love the shape of this dress. I love how it's not flashing too much flesh, but it's still feminine.

 

 

This is my third Man-Men inspired dress to add to my collection and something tells me it's far from my last. It's a style that just keeps on begging to be made.

Mad Men Q&A's and Inspiration

How's everyone going with their Mad Men dresses? I have already received some amazing submissions in my inbox that I can't wait to share with everyone. Golly there are some talented people out there!

Haven't chosen a dress yet? Check out the addictive Tom & Lorenzo Mad Men page for endless inspiration. A few readers have pointed me to that website and I couldn't believe I hadn't see it sooner. They do a 'Mad Style' post for each and every Mad Men episode with an abundance of screen shots of the many dresses to drool over.
I have also started a pin board on Pinterest with some Mad Men dresses I fancy, that you can check out also.

Here's a few QA's that have popped up recently that perhaps some of you have also had tinkering around in your noggin.

Q - I don't have a blog, can I still submit a dress?
A - Heck yes! It's open to everyone. You do not need to have a blog to participate.

Q- I have a dress in mind that isn't based on a particular dress on Mad Men, but it has the same style/feel as the clothes from that time. Can I still take part?
A - Absolutely! Any dress that is from that vintage is more than welcome.

Q- Can I submit more than one dress?
A - Yes! The more the merrier! Or, if you've got a 'Mad Men' dress that you made previously you can submit that also.

Q- I have chosen a dress based on one I've seen on Mad Men but I want to make it in a different print/colour, is that OK?
A - Definitely. The theme is Mad Men but you can take the inspiration and change it to what ever takes your fancy.

Happy Sewing everyone!

P.s. - I may have just purchased another overlocker. I am out.of.control