A Pattern For the 1921 Valancy Stirling Snaith Dress

 Since I’ve finally blogged last summer’s orange dress, it’s about time I blogged my most recent orange dress. My 1921, Valancy Stirling Snaith afternoon dress. 

(The full story of why I call it the Valancy dress can be found in this post.)

In the two weeks I spent making my 1910’s and early 1920’s under things, I spent an awful lot of time studying the 1921 fashion print I intended to base my afternoon dress off of.

What elements made up the dress? What would the pattern pieces look like? Was there an existing 1920’s pattern out there with all the right elements? What was that collar style called?

In short - how would I recreate this design?

First, I broke down the elements.

~Slightly dropped waist, lower than those of a year earlier, but still higher than the waistline would be later in the decade.

~A single dart coming up from the waist on either side of the bodice. No bust darts coming in from the side seams. Darts in general are not common in 1920’s dresses, which aim to give the wearer a rather flat figure, but I did find an example for this specific dart pattern later in the decade:

Search online as I might however, I couldn’t find any other examples of this dart pattern from the early 1920’s, making this specific dress rather unusual.

~A bateau neckline. Nothing specifically special about that.

~The collar. After looking through some open-source 1920’s sewing manuals online, I decided it must be called a bertha-style collar, and I came up with a vague idea of how I would draft one once I found a suitable bodice pattern.

~Full gathered skirt with a scalloped hemline, reaching about mid-calf in the print. Past Patterns actually has an early 20’s pattern with this exact skirt! (And a bateau neckline too!) I would have been tempted to buy it, but, other than the neckline, the bodice and collar weren’t what I wanted. The skirt was simple enough no pattern was required, so I didn’t bother. It was just cool to see a pattern re-print from the right era with the right skirt!

By the time the under things were done so I could begin on the dress, I felt reasonably confident I would be able to make the exact dress I wanted. A search through my pattern stash gave me a starting point - Simplicity 5795. 

It had a bateau neckline, a slightly dropped waistline that I could drop further if needed, and, most importantly, the darts I needed. Single darts on either side coming up from the waistline, nothing else.

As I would most likely be making several alterations to the pattern, and since this pattern happens to be out of print, I started by tracing the bodice pieces onto tissue paper. I traced out a size larger than I usually wear in Simplicity patterns to give me a bit of extra wiggle room and (hopefully) the less fitted shape of the 1920’s. 

I eliminated the center back seam allowance so the back bodice piece could be cut on the fold. I would be making a side closure on this dress, as that was common in the 20’s. (This is opposite my “usual” alteration, as I often change modern dress patterns from side closures to center back closures. I find center back closures to be easier to get into. However, in this case, “historical accuracy” won out.)

Once the bodice was traced, I traced out the neckline and shoulders to make the collar. I then used the “slash and spread” method to give the collar some extra flare.

I mocked it up out of an old sheet and tried it on.

A few adjustments were certainly needed. The back darts needed to go, and the bodice itself needed to be several inches longer. The collar definitely needed extra length as well, and the shoulder angle needed adjusting. Also, there was some gaping at the front front armscye that needed to be addressed.

Off came the mock-up, and out came the tissue paper pattern again.

I pinched out the excess fullness in the armscye and added that to the front darts.

Lengthened the bodice front and back by 3”.

Corrected the shoulder slope of the collar pieces.

And used the “slash and spread” method again to make the collar about 3” longer.

With those adjustments made, it may have been prudent to make a second mockup, but I decided that since they had all been relatively small adjustments, that really wasn’t necessary. 

Out came the orange linen I’d bought specifically for this project.

Cover of the 2022 Dreamscape Media The Blue Castle Audiobook.
My initial inspiration for this project!

My Valancy Sterling Snaith inspired 1920’s dress was ready to take shape!