I've said many times that Hell would freeze over before I wore shoulder pads again. The Eighties were enough, right?
Well, wearing 1940's dresses invariably, it seems, leads down the path toward Shoulder Pad Land. It's inevitable. Simplicity 4714 pushed me over the edge.
I followed the directions on the pattern sheet, except that I made mine about 1/2-inch thick instead of the recommended 3/4, since my shoulders are kind of square. It's pretty simple: Cut two squares of scrap fabric and sandwich some padding (poly-fil batting scraps, in my case) in between them. I used three layers of batting; the middle layer is smaller than the outer two so that the long edge of the pad (toward the outside of the shoulder) will be a little thicker.
Baste them together. Draw a line down the middle, diagonally, and baste each side separately so you don't cut your basting threads when you cut the pads apart.
Well, wearing 1940's dresses invariably, it seems, leads down the path toward Shoulder Pad Land. It's inevitable. Simplicity 4714 pushed me over the edge.
I followed the directions on the pattern sheet, except that I made mine about 1/2-inch thick instead of the recommended 3/4, since my shoulders are kind of square. It's pretty simple: Cut two squares of scrap fabric and sandwich some padding (poly-fil batting scraps, in my case) in between them. I used three layers of batting; the middle layer is smaller than the outer two so that the long edge of the pad (toward the outside of the shoulder) will be a little thicker.
Baste them together. Draw a line down the middle, diagonally, and baste each side separately so you don't cut your basting threads when you cut the pads apart.
Cut the pads apart.
Cover them in scrap fabric.
They're like little fabric spanakopita. Mmm . . . spanakopita!
They're like little fabric spanakopita. Mmm . . . spanakopita!
Close up the cover fabric. I was lazy and just topstitched it all together. The cover fabric was cheesy cotton-poly, too, and I thought it would do better with its seams reinforced.
Tack the pads to the dress. I tacked mine at the shoulder seams and along the middle and ends of the armscye seams, through the seam allowance.
Turn the dress the right way around.
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