little red fox: the divine ella raines as wardrobe muse

The Project:

A two-piece dress?

A cropped sleeveless suit?

How about just an outfit.

The Inspiration:

It was two-fold.

Flipping through Lucky (the only fashion magazine I can stand), I saw this page and was kind of hypnotized...

Especially the beige two-piece on top and the grey one in the middle. I think what got me here was the combination of modern silhouette but still a vintage look. And also the vintage suiting aspect for women is one of my favorite things on earth. Yay for women stealing looks from men. Also I was clearly a dapper dandy in one of my former lives.

And! The same day that I saw this in the magazine, I happened to see a noir film called "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry." One of the female leads was someone I had never heard of but was utterly taken with. Her name is Ella Raines and she was pretty accomplished in her day--albeit a bit short-lived as it would seem, before she was relegated to some B-films and then stopped acting altogether. But just look at her...

That's her on the left. She looks a bit like a cross between Julianna Marguiles and maybe Sherilynn Fenn? Anyway--I think she's just gorgeous.

And that was The Outfit. I just froze and then died when she walked in with that on. Just shriveled up and died. I mean--that little tie? Come on. I had to have it. Or at least a version of it...but maybe a bit more modern...

How it was made:

The neat thing about this for me was that my ideas worked! By that I mean that I always have Big Plans. Large and ambitious. Being a Big Dreamer is definitely an asset as long as you're prepared to deal with lots of disappointments and readjustments to said dreams. And the dreams being somewhere between 0-60% successful. Suresure, I always learn a lot but this time...it all somehow worked. It was pretty thrilling. I hope this means my skill level has improved. It feels like it!

For the top I used the shift pattern form the same BBW book BUT I changed the arm holes and neckline quite dramatically, which meant the facing had to be created off my new "pattern" and lo and behold I did it. I cursed a little and may have thrown just one little thing across the room but still. It worked! Even the little details up close look ok...

One of my favorite details is that it's higher in the back than the front...

For you accomplished sewers out there it's certainly an easy enough thing to do but this was the first time I attempted to structure a garment and it came out like I wanted.

For the skirt I started with the dirndl bottom from the same book but ended up changing quite a lot, including the overall volume. Still it was a good enough place to start because I knew I wanted gathers at the waist and I'm still confused about the ratio of fabric to gathers to actual end measurement, etc. And there are some issues with the placement of the seams but only me and some other nerds will notice hopefully.

The polka dot lining at the waistband was almost an afterthought. I had already made the top and the skirt was just the plain fabric but it felt like something was missing until I put that in.

The main orangey/browny/beigy fabric was something I already had (I must have bought 17 yards of it or something?) from a couple of years ago. Longer-term readers might remember it from here. But the polka dot was a thrifted dress--one of two--that I have cut up and used for a whole slew of projects that I will be showing here shortly. They were well-loved and well-used in their second act, I can say that :)

We have a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina coming up next weekend and there will be lots of polka dots on that trip! I have some more things to make and/or finish but my deadline is next Wednesday, and I have lots to do including making three hats one of which is shaping straw on a mold like a real milliner! Though tonight I did spend the entire evening altering some thrifted finds that I am so excited to show you! So that meant a lot was crossed off my list...but I had the best thrifting day today!

For example this purse...

Wonder if Ms. Ella Raines would approve?

Ooh, let's look at her again for just one more second...

I wish we wore beautiful lounge wear like that anymore...it's just so decent...

Just look at that teeny tiny waist...

It's an unfortunate hat but she's still so pretty.

It's a pretty good movie, too. Geraldine Fitzgerald is particularly wonderful, as is George Sands. But it's a bit odd, I suppose and the ending...well, the ending will have to remain a secret as I was instructed...

I mean--for goodness' sake I want my friends to enjoy the picture!

Isn't that so sweet? And it just would never work nowadays...sigh.

More to come! And thanks for all your sweet comments from the last post. I'm really so grateful it's hard to express.

6 Comments

Very sweet, MC!!! And I love the finishing and the detail! You look so darling in it!!

Posted by: Sarah | May 20, 2011 at 01:12 AM

So incredibly inspired, the mix of influences--and you look amazing!

Posted by: ambika | May 20, 2011 at 06:02 AM

This two piece dress is so cute. You have become quite an accomplished seamstress. I can sew from a pattern, but I'd never dare change it. Excellent job! I remember Ella Raines from those 1940 movies. If I remember correctly, she had a deep voice, and she was quite sexy. Julianna does look like her.

Posted by: Diane M | May 22, 2011 at 02:56 PM