Vintage pattern contest challenge: complete!

Hooray, contest submission complete!  I finished my review (which you can see here ) less than an hour before the deadline, and the sewing was complete only the night before.  But last year, even with a month for the contest, I didn't even come close to finishing on time, in part because life was busy that month, and in part due to my penchant for linings and nicely finished seams.    Generally speaking, I'm not much of a competitor, and don't like my hobby activities to have deadlines: life's full of those already, and I don't need them to motivate me when it comes to stuff I love doing.    But the contest is a nice way to support sewing with vintage patterns, so I want to be a part of it.   There are some really fabulous entries!  Go look at the gallery if you haven't already.

I'm fairly happy with how the dress came out, and will probably be happier still when some time has passed.  I find I need to let items I've sewn "rest" a bit before I can really like them.  Right after they're done, I'm too aware of all the technical oopsies and fitting conundrums embodied in the garment.  After a few weeks or months, they start looking better to me.  It's not necessarily that I forget that they're there, but rather that they no longer feel like problems I should have solved and thus need to continue to mull over.    So, for this dress, I am going to move the button at the waistband over a smidge, and I need to catch under the edge of the lining at the armhole seams in a couple of places.   Then it will probably rest for a spell.

Here it is in all its completedness:  Anne Adams 4872 from the 1940s.   Could the sun have possibly come out yesterday for the photos?  No it could not. Not once all day.

And for what it's worth, here's last year's would-have-been entry, Advance 7850.   It came out a little on the loose side, but that just makes it super comfortable, and it's still probably my favorite thing I've made.  I should make more 50s dresses.   I lined it with a watermelon red cotton batiste, which of course you can't see unless I'm doing something unladylike, but I love that sort of detail.