The 1-hour dress is a classic day dress from the 1920s. Once you have your measurements, you can make the dress in an hour (I’ve successfully done it in 45 minutes!). There is no pattern, you actually just lay out your fabric and draw the cut lines on the fabric. When I get a chance, I’ll post instructions, I promise.
These were simple house dresses, made from whatever fabric was kicking around. I’ve read that women made them using old flour sacks, for example. They aren’t to look pretty, they are simply to cover you and keep you warm while you are doing your housework – you would never go to town in one.
The interesting thing is that you can actually slightly modify the pattern to make it more interesting (and prettier). This dress uses the same fabric (obviously), a V-neckline (which takes a bit longer, now a 1.5-hour dress) and it is two pieces instead of one solid piece. The bottom is simply a square of fabric with a hole cut out of the centre for the lower portion. Easy peasy.
And now for fun, I take this same dress to a higher level using a silk-coton blend fabric with a contrasting solid, and double the bottom portion – one piece of the solid and one piece of the patterned. The dress comes together quickly with the only real additional time all that hemming (by machine, of course).
