Daisy Creates Glam: Spiffing Tea Dress

So, last year was a time to discover vintage festivals and events and, as such, there obviously needed to be relevant things to wear to said events.

The event in question for this blog post was The Chap Olympiad - a thoroughly silly, err, I mean spiffingly eccentric, British do held in one of London's oldest squares at the height of the English summer. Everyone attending uses the occasion to show off their best vintage style, from Edwardian ladies to dapper gents with handlebar moustaches and much cream tea and champagne is scoffed and quaffed.

Naturally, I needed an appropriate outfit, and found it with Burda Style . The design lent itself well to the shape I was looking for, as I was after some kind of 30s style tea dress and, apart from a small sleeve adjustment, which I drafted using the assistance of Metric Pattern Cutting, it was pretty much the pattern as was in the book.

The fabric I used was a floral chiffon I had previously purchased in Athens so it was a stashbust.

It was easy to alter the straight sleeve - the bottom right pic shows the original sleeve and finished sleeve shapes. I also extended the sleeve to make it longer. I cut the bodice on the straight grain and as I had enough fabric, cut the skirt on the bias to give a more 1930s drape.

It was a fairly easy make, apart from the fact that handling chiffon is always a bit of a faff. However with some French seams sorted fraying issues and I soon had the pieces put together and fitting well.

Triming the seam ready for "frenching"

If I have any minor complaint/future amend for this pattern it would be that I would slightly alter the front where the neckline meets the bodice as it gaped slightly, but nothing I couldn't fix with a brooch.

I was pleased with the finished result though and , thanks to the British weather, it was perfect for the scorching hot day.

So there's my tea dress dress attempt. Teamed with a vintage feather hat I felt suitably vintage enough. Now here's a couple of pics of the silliness......