Such laziness in photographing and blogging my recent makes. No real excuses except work and laziness :P I wore this one to go out to lunch on my aunt's b-day, so I grabbed a few pictures before leaving the house!
Decades of Style :: Object d'Art
This was a fun dress to make. I found it surprisingly simple. Part of that was probably the fabric I chose, it was very easy to work with and pressed pretty well into all those folds. Lining up the stripes was probably the only real time consuming part! And you really have to pay attention to the folding and ironing or it won't lay right. I don't have a lot of straight skirt dresses like this, but I like the style. I might make a few wiggle dresses next. I used a pencil skirt pattern I've been working on as a sloper for it. Now I should just make the pencil skirt!
The fabric isn't nearly as bright and saturated as it appears in most of these photos. I really need some sort of setup to get better colours! Anyway, I've had this fabric in my stash for years, like, I think it moved from Texas with me. And I had like 6 yards, I have no idea what I planned to make with it, but I have plenty left over for another dress. I never buy this much fabric, so it was hard to use it on something that doesn't take up the entire amount, but I thought that it was just perfect for the pattern. The design is great, I love the yoke and pocket details so much and the stripes really show off the folds and pleating, I love the little shiny stripe too, not too gaudy but fun! And now I can make something else! Woohoo!
The skirt is period appropriate, but WAY to long for most modern wear. It probably would have been to my ankles. I took off inches of it and still had to give it a deep hem (which made the kick pleat too short, I'll make a note of that!) to make it a good length. I'd probably make a slightly smaller size next time as well, it was a smidge too big, but not enough for me to take in the sides. I put a piece of elastic in the back waist, which is hardly noticeable, but it nips it in a bit more. I also left a huge seam allowance on the skirt so that I can let it in and out as necessary over the years.
I made the sleeves on the bias to give it a bit more stripe interest and mirror some of the folds. I just now noticed the stripes don't match on them. Whatever, I like how it turned out! Very easy and comfortable to wear. Definitely recommend the pattern. I'm excited to make others from the company, I bought a bunch of them when they were having a sale ;)
~Nikki
