Vintage picknick & dress alterations

Last Sunday I went on a vintage picknick with my friends from Club Interbellum. It was in Park Frankendael outside the city centre of Amsterdam. Here we are posing in front of House Frankendael the 18th century country estate that gave the park its name (when it was built it was situated far outside the city borders)

Just some impressions of the actual picknick. Everyone brought something to eat and we even had music ;). We were so lucky to have one day of good weather as it had been raining for days and the next days (including today) saw even more rain.

Plenty of posing going on ;)

The girls

The boys

I love these two photo's of the entire group in a row: one where we are posing and another one where we are clearly off (all the more fun)

Martine reading the book I got as a present from Marjolein and Paul.

A radiant Sabra who organised this event!

At a certain moment I had a ladybug on my shoulder. You can see it is already spreading it's wings to fly away.

My outfit:

This picture was taken before I left the house when my hair was in a snood because it was an 8 kilometer bikeride to the park (that would have certainly messed up my curls).

I had first planned to wear the silk dress I bought in Prague but because of the bikeride I opted for something more sturdy.

I had 'rediscovered' this 1940's dress only days before. I've had it for years but haven't worn it regularly for the last two. I love the combination of two different fabrics. It looks like the dress was made from one older dress with a bit of fabric or two dresses combined, a thing that was very common during WWII because of the fabric shortages.

This 1940 magazine shows similar kinds of designs from two fabrics.

The  double collar is particularly cute!

I matched my accessoiries to some of the different colors of the print: blue ribbon of the hat (1930's Metz & Co.), yellow belt (H&M) and rust-red shoes (H&M).

The reason I hadn't worn the dress for a while was that it was rather short and a bit tight around the hips.

Although showing just a bit of knee would not be uncommon in the early to mid forties I think it is too juvenile a look for me by now so I let down the hem. Because the black fabric is a crêpe it was easy to solve the fit on the hips by dampening that area and sitting in it for a bit and iron it dry afterwards. Sounds weird but works great with crêpe fabrics, a bit like putting on jeans in a bathtub ;) Ofcourse cycling does a great job but you get a 'but' in your skirt far more easy. You always have to be carefull it does not become too long at the back. 

I actually elongated several dresses lately to make the silhouet more mature.

This dress was the first. It is the cutest print I own and I had given up on it and was almost ready to sell it on. But somewhere around midnight a few weeks ago I decided I would try to let out the hem. I wore it shopping the next day. Guess I'll be hanging on to it for now ;)

I had wanted to let down the hem on this next one for a long time but wasn't sure I could ever get the crease of the old hem out of the tafeta fabric. It took a lot of pressing but the result is alright. I also widened the cuff of the sleeves a bit because they were uncomfortably tight (also keeping me from wearing the dress). But THOSE sleeves! Pure leg-of-mutton heaven, almost creating a gay nineties look ;)

Do any of you alter vintage pieces to improve the look or fit?

Will be back soon,

Birthe