Tuesday, August 13, 2013

stripey dress

i posted one little preview photo of the top of this dress wayyyy back in may, and i think i finished it sometime in june? can't remember, but regardless, these photos are long overdue since it's now... august!!! i know i know. but at least i have worn it twice!! that's a record, as i'm still in the "i-just-sew-things-but-then-never-wear-them" phase of my sewing. yeah that top i posted about in the same blog post from may... never wore it out of the house. i feel like it looks like nurses' scrubs? i went to all the trouble to french seam the sleeves and bias bind the edges, but i'm not a fan of it. i'm thinking if i rip the sleeves off and re-cut the arm holes to make it a racer back tank top style and then bias bind those arm holes, that might help it become wearable? whaddya think?

excuse my tangent. so i never posted photos of this dress, which i actually do like although the stripes are kinda loud and it feels a little "jamaican maaan"... ("I see pride! I see power! I see a bad-ass mother who don't take no crap off of nobody!" anyone? anyone? is it sad that the most i know of jamaica is from the movie cool runnings? but that's such a good movie! you know you like it.) i was hoping to get some nice outside photos, but these inside ones were the best i got.

the fabric was suuuuper cheap from fabric.com and i didn't notice when i ordered it that it's not a cotton knit. i was expecting a soft cotton knit. major surprise when i opened the package! it's some stretchy poly lycra blend that could easily be a swimsuit. i hated it at first. but it was so cheap i decided to just go ahead and use it, because if i hated the result, i could pretend it was just a muslin =)

i made up my own pattern and used my super new swedish tracing paper, which rocks by the way. get some. i decided to be lazy and made the front and back bodice exactly the same! - since it's so stretchy it didn't matter, and i like the scoop in the back. i referenced a RTW dress and tank top as a starting point. oh and if you missed it, i totally aced the side seam matching, but the only side photo i have is the one i posted here. for the skirt i just did a big ole rectangle and gathered it. i had enough to make it a maxi, but when i held it up those stripes were just overwhelming. i knew i'd never wear it. so i chopped it off. and when i say "chopped" i mean i carefully laid it out a measured it and painstakingly cut it shorter and then did a very tidy job of hemming it. 

the bodice is fully lined with the same fabric because it made the fabric feel more substantial and it solved the issue of how i wanted to bind the neck and armholes. (i first typed "arm and neckholes" ha ha, that makes it sound like i have multiple necks but only one arm. love it!)



20 comments:

  1. It's really cute! I love the combo of horizontal and vertical stripes. It fits perfectly too!

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    1. Thanks! glad you like the stripes going 2 directions, i went back and forth about that

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  2. I Think It's Very VeRy Pretty! The Age Of Wearing Out Of The house Your Me Mades Is Upon You!:)

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    1. yay, i would love to be in the age of wearing out of the house my me mades!

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  3. Super cute dress! Great job making your pattern and lining it ~ looks great on you!

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    1. thanks! the lining part actually made it easier in constructing the bodice! i almost lined the skirt too, much it got heavy and was pulling the bodice down. so now i wear a white skirt slip just because those yellow stripes are a little on the see-through side

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  4. Adorable! The fabric is great and your dress is so cute! Bravo!

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    1. thank you thank you! the fabric is growing on me =)

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  5. This is so super cute on you! Love the fit!

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    1. yay! this fabric is so stretchy that getting a good fit was easy-peasy =D

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  6. Very cute, you should definitely keep this in your wear pile ;)

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  7. It looks so cute and summery! I like the way you played with the stripe direction. (And I did go to Jamaica earlier this summer, and your dress would fit rather well there, but that's a good thing.)

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    1. i'm so jealous, i'd love to go to jamaica! i would pack this dress =)

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  8. Love the stripiness! And the fit is brill.

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    1. thanks! i have another large stiped knit with mostly all blue and green to play with soon. both are super stretchy, so the fit is very forgiving, esp. with a gathered skirt!

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  9. Very nice! I love the vertical and horizontal alignments - makes it more visually interesting :)

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    1. glad you like it! luckily this fabric was so stretchy it didn't really matter if i changed up the direction of the print, yay!

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  10. Very cute! I like the way you changed up the direction of the stripes from the bodice to the skirt.

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    1. thanks! i'm thinking in a future version in another stripe i have, i might put the stripes on a diagonal and do a chevron pattern on the bodice, but i think that would look better with a V-neckline maybe?

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Thanks for reading! I welcome any advice, insights, witty remarks, snarky comebacks, commiserations or just a quick hello. I'd love to check out your blog as well, so let me know where you're posting. Happy sewing!