I have made a prototype of a 1960s Lutterloh shirt dress, testing the pattern for another make with some special fabric.
This is clearly not 1960s fabric but some Japanese Tana lawn that I bought at Spotlight a couple of years ago, and which I used for this blouse. In the ’60s I’m sure we called these dresses “shirtwaisters”, but it’s such a dowdy term that I’m happy to update it to shirtdress. I made the one on the right.
I made a simple leather tie belt to go with it, from pieces of leather donated to my stash by my friend Thelma. This is such an easy design that I might make more, but the leather needs to be quite thin.
The dress itself is a gentle A-line dress, with buttons to the waist and a Peter Pan collar. I added pockets. I had a bit of a drafting malfunction and somehow the front shoulders finished up being wider than the back. Instead of redrafting the pattern, I simply added tucks to the front shoulders. I don’t think I like it and I have since retraced the pattern. I also had to do a Low Bust Adjustment on the pattern, but didn’t bother on my prototype.. What is it with these vintage patterns? Every single one has to be adjusted. I am sure that I am not particularly malformed, but truly, the darts are always at least a couple of centimetres too high and they were 5cm too high on this dress! The tucks and misplaced darts might be the reason that the front of the dress is a touch baggy.
In a nutshell: Pattern is a Lutterloh shirt dress from the 1960s made from Japanese tana lawn from Spotlight. Buttons came from an op-shop in New Zealand. Belt is hand made by me.