Gatsby Picnic and the 1920s Daisy Dress

Another lovely Gatsby Summer Afternoon has come and gone! I made a new dress this year, and although I did not have the name in mind when sewing, I am now calling it the Daisy dress. It’s yellow and white, with daisy lace around the bottom, plus Daisy is a character in the Great Gatsby. I hope I am nowhere near that frivolous, though!

Here I am in front of the Dunsmuir Hellman House in Oakland, CA. The picnic is held on the lawn, but there is a tour of the house for part of the day. Lots of people also bring their lovely vintage automobiles and they are parked on the lawn to contribute to the atmosphere.  There is also a live band, dance floor, performances and contests.

The shoes are American Duchess. My hat is a straw cloche that I bought from eBay and redecorated with scraps from the dress, plus a vintage flower.

My dress is primarily linen, with chiffon sleeves and accents of cotton, dotted net and rayon lace. I used the 1925 Zig Zag Dress pattern from Decades of Style #2502. The pattern is well-made, but perhaps runs a little large, unless you like the looser look.  I prefer something a little more fitted, so I ended up taking the bust in a few inches. The dress is made stitching all the gored skirt panels together, then edge-stitching that to the bodice.

I liked how cool the linen was in the heat, but linen wrinkles like crazy! I had all the skirt trimmings but didn’t have my swatch with me when I had a impulse stop to get chiffon from the fabric store when passing by. I had to eyeball the color, then run out after a few minutes. It doesn’t look too off in the sunlight, but in indoor lighting the chiffon looks too orange.

I made a few little modifications in the pattern. I bound the neckline, then made a bow, whereas the pattern calls for a loosely-draped necktie. I also used yellow thread to make a decorative zig-zag pattern over the shirred portions near the shoulder seams.

I also made some little tweaks to the sleeve pattern. I added 2 inches, since I have long arms, and used French seams. I also omitted the snaps on the cuffs, and made them a continuous band.

Each year I think 1930s would be more flattering, but the 1920s shape is easier to sew. Then I sabotage myself by choosing a lot of embellishment! I spent a long time pinning and sewing down all the decorations around the waist and hem. The bottom of the skirt is decorated with pale yellow dotted netting, surrounded by triangles of bias tape. The hem is polished cotton with rayon daisy lace.

As you can see here, I left the bottom layers unattached so the look wouldn’t be so flat, and so I can slip an iron underneath the netting to access the linen.

I reused the slip from last year’s Gatsby dress.

Dress project cost was ~$57:

• 3 yards linen + 1 yard chiffon: $26.10
• 10 yards bias tape: $7.49
• Pattern: $18
• Hem trimmings: ~$5 (the netting, polished cotton and lace all came together, and were purchased as part of a bundle with other items, so I this is an estimate).
• Flower: 50 cents (it was part of a $3 cluster).

I’m not counting the shoes, hat and slip in the total cost.

Kathy of Stuff I Sew also made a cute sleeveless version of the dress from the same pattern. Are all these ladies lovely? Samantha is wearing a yellow vintage dress, and Amanda and Breanna made theirs. Breanna’s dress is also a Decades of Style pattern.

You can see more pictures from the picnic at Flickr.