Completed Project: The Gertie Shirtwaist dress – v2!
Earlier this year, unbeknownst to my co-blogger Julia (aka Aileen), I decided to make myself a purple gingham shirtwaist dress (pictured below). At around the same time, I offered to make a dress for Aileen for her birthday. The phrase ‘great minds think alike’ springs to mind, because she asked for none other than the Gertie Shirtwaist dress in red gingham!!! Of course, I was happy to oblige, and making my own version first gave me the opportunity to really get to grips with the construction of the dress and the techniques used.
My first Gertie Shirtwaist dress in purple gingham
Once I had finished my dress, I made a toile of Aileen’s dress and sent it to her in the post, hoping and praying there wouldn’t need to be too many alterations! She has already made a couple of things from Gertie’s book though (the pencil skirt, the wiggle dress and the sundress) and hadn’t had any fitting problems with those, and as luck would have it, she was happy with the toile! Phew!
It took me quite a while to finish this dress, and I kept on randomly making other things at the same time. Usually, I complete one project at a time, and even though I’ve been sewing since 2009, I only have one unfinished project! I got there in the end though, and not only was I very pleased with the results, but Aileen was too!
I actually am a bit jealous as I think I prefer the red gingham to the purple! Anyway, on to the photos…
Front view
I put my multi-tiered petticoat underneath the dress for these photos. I think it makes the shirtdress look a bit more dressy, and of course it gives it a nice shape on the dummy (who is called Delilah).
Back view
Excuse the state of my sewing room! Now for some detail shots:
Front bodice view
The sleeves turned out better on Aileen’s version than they did on mine!
Back bodice view
The back yoke went slightly off grain. I hope no one noticed, but feel obliged to point it out!
The inside
Bound buttonholes? NEVER AGAIN!
Bound buttonholes
I tried to match the fabric for the bound buttonholes. I’m pretty pleased really. They are not absolute perfection, but they’re good enough for me to show you!
Pretty buttons (and shirring from the inside)
I used white buttons for my own purple gingham dress, but it just had to be red for Aileen’s dress. These are Vogue buttons from Hobbycraft. They are very sweet.
Waistline matching
I think I did quite a good job of matching the gingham at the waistline!
Wonky hem!
The hem on this dress went crazy! It did this on my purple version too. I think all the handling of the dress that occurs when you’re sewing the bound buttonholes pulls the fabric out of shape a bit. To even it out, I had to chop off over three inches at some points, and at other points just a tiny amount!
Anyway, here’s the birthday girl wearing her new dress:
Birthday dress!
And one last photo of us both (my dress is one I made last year):
Thread Carefully girls!
TTFN!
Thread Carefully 
Lovely. I haven’t tackled any of the patterns from Gertie’s book. It’s funny how we need to share the issues with our makes. I didn’t notice until you told us. It’s very minor though.
I suppose I was worried about being criticised – I wanted to acknowledge that I am aware of its imperfections! 🙂
Looks amazing! Both of them! Bound buttonholes are just plain terrifying, aren’t they?? But you did a great job. I get the same problem with hemlines. They can be a bit scary and all…
Thanks Elena! Yeah, the hem was like the final insult because I thought it would take maybe ten minutes, but instead it took over an hour! Still, it was worth all the effort.
Super photo of you both and lovely dresses. Now I know why I gave up on dress making – I think I’ve only done bound buttonholes once, many moons ago – quilts are much easier! I too point out my errors first and I hadn’t noticed yours.
Glad you hadn’t noticed! Quilts are definitely not easier to me! 😀
I love them both, and the red one fits so well. the imperfections you mention are so minor and only noticeable because you are doing close up photos they would not be noticed by the rest of the human race in reality. It was lovely to meet you on Saturday by the way,
Thanks Zora. It was so lovely to meet you too!
Gorgeous dresses – I like both colours and I love the shape . What a lovely friend you are to make one for someone else! xx
I like making things for other people, plus Aileen actually made me a dress for my 30th so it was only fair that I should return the favour! x
I’ve just given you a super sweet blogger award. Obviously don’t feel obliged to do anything with it, but I just wanted to carry on spreading the love! x
Aaaw thanks Lara! It was fab to meet you at the Birmingham meet up 🙂
I would love to make this dress, but I haven’t even started and it’s already giving me a headache – are the seam allowances included in the pattern or not? I can’t for the life of me figure it out.
I hope mine turns out as nice as your (two)!
Yes, the seam allowances are included. Good luck making it!