Hey, look, it’s a finished sewing project! It’s been a while since I had one of those to share… and this one has been “in progress” for far too long.
This dress is absolutely a study in procrastination. I think I started working on it last fall, and got it mostly put together when it became apparent that I would need to shorten the skirt considerably… at which point it went into the sewing basket for time out, because the construction of the dress meant I needed to unpick the waist seam, cut off length from the top, re-gather, and re-sew, and I apparently wasn’t particularly pleased about that at the time.
I’m glad I finally rescued it and took the time to finish putting it together, though, because it’s a fun dress! It’s (obviously) not perfect, and I made my usual share of sewing mistakes, but I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of it, and the colors are so fun!
I found a yard or so of this fantastic horse-drawn-carriage weathervane print at the thrift store, and Butterick 7238 seemed like the perfect pattern to maximize the impact of my small scrap of novelty print fabric. The best matching solid I could scare up at the fabric store was this interesting aqua rayon/linen blend, which is delightful if somewhat stretchy, and a bit heavier in weight than the cotton novelty fabric. I really ought to have interfaced the yoke so that the fabric weights would match up better… but I did not.
I also managed to put in the lapped zipper backwards (after putting it in and taking it out once to shorten the skirt) but I didn’t bother to take it out and put it back a third time because I was ready to be done with this dress. I know, bad lazy seamstress. Maybe eventually…
All in all, though, I am very happy with how this dress turned out! It is quite comfortable, looks nifty, and was only moderately obnoxious to put together. Maybe some day I’ll make another one… although next time I’ll make sure to shorten the skirt piece first, before cutting it out. Since the contrasting panel is attached to the bottom of the skirt and then pressed up and sewed in place, there’s no way to hem the skirt, so adjustments to length need to happen at the top. It’s a little counterintuitive to put together, but it looks fantastic once it’s done.
I also took this as an opportunity to fiiiiinally wear these Miss L Fire shoes I thrifted for a steal. I don’t tend to wear shoes that have a spectator/contrast look to them, my brain thinks they look too western… Clearly, it’s something I need to work on. They seemed about right with the absurd horses in this print, though.
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- Teal dress with novelty weathervane print: Butterick 7238, Made by me
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- Teal hair flower: Claires
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- White belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing
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- Canvas underskirt (not visible): Pin Up Girl Clothing
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- Miss L Fire platform peep-toe spectator shoes: Thrifted