1939 White Dress with Red Trim and Autumn Leaf Pattern for Thanksgiving

A white dress patterned all over with small orange, yellow and red leaves in different shapes. The sleeves are short, slightly puffed at the shoulder and bordered at the bottom edge with a looped pattern in bright red. It has a V-neck, also bordered with the same red pattern, and pintucks at the shoulders. There's a row of three tightly-spaced small white buttons over the bust, and it's cinched at the waist with a red-patterned belt which has a white circle-shaped buckle. The skirt is a simple A-line skirt with a hemline a few inches below the knee.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Today is Thanksgiving here in America, and last year I did a Thanksgiving-themed 1860s ball gown as a reference to the year the holiday was established. But in 1939, in the middle of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed it up a week so that there would be a longer shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. As you might imagine, this didn’t go over well with everyone at the time, but for my purposes I am imagining my dolls to be early adopters. So this year, we have a 1939-style dress with an autumn leaf pattern to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Do I ever feel like I have a lot to be thankful for this year! My husband, my family, my friends, the entire medical establishment — I could really go on and on. I won’t bore you all, though, but rather will leave you with one piece of new information: we went in for the ultrasound yesterday, and it’s a boy!

I hope that those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving today will have a lovely one!

24 thoughts on “1939 White Dress with Red Trim and Autumn Leaf Pattern for Thanksgiving

  1. Congratulations on the baby boy!!! Any name ideas yet? You must be so thrilled! And happy Thanksgiving to you!!! As usual, I love the dress, I do not think you have done one that I do not admire, they are all so lovely!

  2. You must be so excited! I’m really happy for you. :) I’m sure he’ll be an adorable little boy!
    And I like the leaves on this dress very much. I remember doing a musical set in the 30’s, but the dresses weren’t near as cute as this. :(

  3. Congradulations on the baby boy! I hope everything goes perfectly for you.

    I think you did a good job capturing the time period on the dress!

  4. can you please publish my blog in your blogroll. You have inspired me to draw paper dolls. keep up the good work and congratulations on your baby :)http://thepaperpeopleswardrobe.blogspot.com.au/

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