After making this dress, I looked at that wall (that normally pains my eyes) and saw striped potential. I busted out a bunch of washi-tapes I’d bought in Japan and got to work making striped magic!!!!
When I received this gorgeous striped silk cotton from Measure Fabric—- I was floored. It looked pretty in the photos, but the “hand” was even better. It was flowy, had a slight texture, and just felt like something I’d find in a high-end clothing line.
The problem with beautiful, luxurious fabric is deciding what to sew with it— amiright? I went back and forth and back and forth. Finally I had the genius idea to use my personal croquis (fashion sketch/body for designing) from My Body Model!!! I have this file that allows me to print out my exact body shape and see how things will fit on MY body. (Go check their site out if you don’t know what I’m talking about!!) So, I got out the 3 patterns that were in the running, and drew out how I would use the fabric for each. (I taunted everyone on Instagram asking them to guess which one I’d chosen!!)
Annnnnnddddd……………
I chose Simplicity s8888!! I had bought the pattern when they were on sale at Joann’s and wasn’t sure if I’d ever get to it, or really what fabric would’ve worked best… but…. I think I made the right choice!!! THIS FABRIC and THAT PATTERN were MEANT. TO. BE.
Because this fabric was so special, and a tiny bit slippery, I decided I should do the whole weights- and- rotary cutter thing for precision. Then I got lazy and when back to the floor- and- scissors for the parts of the dress that were just big rectangles!! When I was cutting the fabric, I looked to my drawing to see which parts I wanted going vertically or horizontally. The fun thing to do with stripes is to have them going different directions right?! I also made sure that I would be able to fit all the pattern pieces cutting it out that way, before actually making any cuts!
Every view of this dress is my favorite!! I chose the flutter sleeve because I like my shoulders covered, and compared to the other sleeve options provides more breeze to the armpits during summer. That’s essential in my book!!! HA!
Now that I’ve convinced you that this is the best fabric and pattern on the planet—- want to see how many ways this dress looks fabulous? I will proceed to demonstrate that this dress looks great when…..
- Standing on one leg…
2. Standing with your arms straight up like vertical ARM STRIPES…
3. Standing like a broken-winged bird…
4. Sitting in a chair and touching your hair.
5. Putting your arms directly out from you like horizontal ARM STRIPES (my actual thoughts when doing this pose)…
6. Dancing in it…
7. Fondly snuggling a bunch of bananas…
8. Stopping on the side of the road on the way home from church and trying to pose in someone’s junky front yard (that may be a store?? unsure) before they notice.
There you have it. I found that the “hacking” capabilities that were written into the instructions were really good, and the instructions and pictures made this so easy to figure out! I think the “Big 4” are upping their pattern instructions in their new patterns (thankfully!!) and this could be sewn by someone with just a little experience sewing!
And go check out Measure Fabric because they only carry the really good stuff 😉 !!