chiffon dress for woman Floral Printed Long Sleeve Gown – Monique Lhuillier cascading ruffles Red Summer Stunner Cut-out Chiffon

These dresses were usually a bit longer than knee-length, with long or medium puffy sleeves or thin straps in summer, and in fun prints or soft pastel solids

For most, summer means hot, hot weather

If you prefer not to work FDC, you may work two pieces exactly the same as the First Panel and simply seam them together in the first 100 stitches on either end

(My friend, writer, and fellow-history-nerd Loretta Chase and I also marveled at how the wearer managed to keep a snow-white dinner dress so perfectly clean, without a single spot of gravy or spilled claret-cup - though that may be revealing more about us at Christmas parties than the unknown wearer.) Holiday-themed clothing was rare in the past