Mad Men Challenge Shirt Dress

Is shirt dress one word or two? Perhaps you call them shirtwaist dresses. Regardless of what you call it, this style dress was popular in the 1950s and 1960s, and was prominently featured in at least the earlier seasons of Mad Men. My inspiration for this challenge could have been any number of the dresses featured, primarily on the wives of the "mad men". This one that Betty is wearing, is one of my favorites:

source

I really wanted to find a stripe, to really replicate the look, but couldn't find what I wanted. You had a sneak peek of my heron covered fabric last week... and here's the dress:

As mentioned last week, I used Simplicity 4003. The changes I made include:

• eliminated the side zipper
• did my own button placement
• the placket is backwards (oops), so the buttons/buttonholes are on the "wrong" sides
• shortened the skirt a lot
• added side seam pockets
• gathered the skirt around the entire waistband.

And darn... I should have posed like Betty, complete with glass of wine!

Parting shot with styled with cardigan...