Marian Martin 9253 (ca. 1957): The Three-Feedsack Dress

The "Three Feedsacks" Dress.

Begun June 14, 2009.

June 21: Slowly but surely. Unfortunately, I have the bad feeling that this is going to be freakishly short-waisted on me. I only tried it on, sort of, over a tank top and skirt, so I might be wrong, but I don't think I'm going to be that wrong. Sigh.

Never mind--project canceled June 23: I was right--the waistline is up around my ribs. I'd be wearing that belt directly under my bust, which is not cool. Hmmm. I still love the look of the dress, though, so I guess I'll have to do some experimenting before I try it again.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out it's a half-sized pattern, which was intended for mature ladies of petite stature. I haven't been petite since 5th grade, so no wonder the waistline was up around my ribs.

Meanwhile--any very-petite ladies out there in size 36/30/39 who would want this? All it needs is buttons, buttonholes, and to have the skirt hemmed. FlickrMail me.

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Might this be the perfect summer dress?

The example on the Vintage Pattern Wiki has a postmark of 1957.

It was advertised as "1960's," which was clearly wrong. I was momentarily deceived by the bodice and thought it might be an ambiguously-styled 1970's pattern, but the awkwardly-long, bell-shaped, gored skirt and enormous patch pockets in novelty parallelogram shape, and the cap sleeves, give it away. That skirt is a definite late-1940's holdover.

I don't know how long these pattern companies offered a given pattern before discontinuing it. This strikes me as maybe a couple of years earlier, stylistically, than 1957, but it could just have been that it was intended to be a very utilitarian dress without much pretense to style.

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The mailing envelope that came with mine has a penciled notation on it: "Takes three feedsacks to make this dress, of same material."

14 photos | 203 views

items are from between 29 May 2009 & 17 Jun 2009.