Saturday, February 23, 2013

Rosemary's New No-Sew Dress


Rosemary's new no-sew dress (click to enlarge)

Shortly after introducing Rosemary Rock Flowers in a post about these 1971-1974 dolls by Mattel, her new colorful dress was fashioned from the scarf she is positioned alongside.  She had been wearing a Dawn dress as shown in the previous post.

To make the dress, I trimmed a small portion from the end of the scarf and wrapped it around Rosemary's body twice.  From top-back-to-front, the remainder was wrapped around each arm.  Finally, the remaining inch or so was tucked between the wrapped layers in back.

Rosemary's new dress from the back


I was inspired to share photos of Rosemary's new dress on Facebook a few days ago after viewing the following, circa 1940s video of the Great Drapo illustrating his technique for making fashionable no-sew dresses for women.



Rosemary's dress is not as haute couture as the ones fashioned by the Great Drapo, but she says, "Anything is better than that Dawn dress.  You know I would have never chosen that for myself!"

Thanks Steve for sharing the video!

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7 comments:

  1. Very good job! The colors of the fabric make her look like an african princess. I used to love watching old 40's movies and Drapo would have a walk-on in the fashion musicals and do his wraps. He and Edith Head favorites of mine.

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  2. Thanks, Muff.

    I was not familiar with the Great Drapo until I viewed the Youtube video. With hands his size, he should have been able to do something productive.

    I purchased the scarf at a beauty supply store several months ago to wear headband style, but never got around to doing that. I still have enough left to do that if desired.

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  3. Hello from Spain: nice dress. Your sew very well. I like the color of the fabric .. We keep in touch.

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    1. Thank you, Marta. I like the colors of the fabric, too.

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  4. For some reason this color reminds me of South America for some reason. Maybe because... so colorful!!! :)

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    1. Hi Carmen,

      The colors of the scarf attracted my attention because these combinations of colors are used in flags of various countries and territories in Africa. Red-black-green specifically, but some African flags also use yellow in combination with red, black, or green.

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  5. Very pretty! Thanks for sharing the YouTube video. I was not familiar with Drapo either. He was super talented.

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