October 26, 2018

Vintage 1950s Reversible Halloween/Christmas Dress – Simplicity 8085

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I don’t often do holiday dresses because I don’t like that you can only wear them once or twice per year. However, since this dress is reversible, I get double the wear!

I used Simplicity 8085 and novelty print cotton. The Christmas side is a vintage-esque tree print and the Halloween side is black and orange bats. Since the binding shows on both sides, I chose black to tone in with both prints.

The Christmas side has large patch pockets and shaped buttons over the poppers on the skirt. I have yet to find Halloween buttons that I like, but when I do those will be added to the Halloween side.

This pattern goes together very easily and the only modification I needed was to add a popper on the back where the two sides of the bodice back cross. This stops it from gaping. The skirt is nearly a full circle, and the two layers of fabric, plus the crossover in the back, make it wonderfully swingy and fun to dance in!

Cutting out the fabric. I didn’t have quite enough, so I cut the front as two and did a seam up the center front.

Halloween front – I added the belt since this side doesn’t have pockets.

Christmas front. You can just see the bats peeking out from under the shoulder!

Christmas back. Note the pine cone, fir branch and snowflake buttons!

Pattern Number

Simplicity 8085

Description

1950s Vintage dress and top

Difficulty

Confident beginner – you’ve made a few things and even wear them! You know how to use interfacing, press a seam, clip a curve and make darts.

Fabric and Trim

Main: Novelty Print Cotton
Trim: Bias binding, quilt binding, novelty buttons

Instructions

Clear and easy to follow. This pattern only has three pieces; bodice front, bodice back and skirt, making it very simple. The most complicated bit is probably the bodice darts.

Alterations

With the use of the bias tape on the neckline and armholes, this pattern is just crying out to be made reversible, so I did just that! I made two dresses, put them wrong sides together and used bias binding to finish the neckline and armholes, per the pattern. Instead of a normal hem, I used wider quilt binding to finish the bottom edge.

Conclusions

I certainly recommend this pattern, especially for beginners. There are no sleeves to worry about and it is not meant to be closely fitted in the bodice, making it quite forgiving.