Simplicity 2465 - Red plaid strappy sun dress from 1948

I am on a roll with the sewing this week. I've made two dresses in four days! The past few months I have splurged on several fab vintage patterns, a few of them are ones I've been hunting down for a long time. This dress is one of them. Simplicity 2465 dated 1948. This pattern calls for a functional drawstring that is sewn into the center front bust made to tie around the neck halter style. I made mine exactly as pictured at first but had to make a few changes to get a better fit. 

Fresh off the sewing machine. As you can see I added an extra set of straps. The single halter strap just doesn't cut it for my larger bust size. I wanted to wear this dress without a bra and even with built in support I needed the extra strap to hold every thing up. 

I love the idea of the halter ties but after wearing it tied around my neck for 5 minutes I couldn't stand it rubbing uncomfortably on my skin and opted to sew the straps down. All the buttons are decorative. 

The red metallic plaid is a thin cotton lawn I found in the clearance section at Joanns. I bought the very last bit of what they had and ended up not having enough to make the whole dress with it. I dug through my scrap box and found just enough of this rayon crushed velvet for the bust. I lined the bodice with a thick cotton stretch twill. 

I needed to add stability to the hem since the fabric is so thin. I used a thicker 1 1/2" wide cotton lace as a hem tape and it worked out great. 

Woo hoo, new dress happy dance!