And now back to our regular programming… Striped Simplicity 1459

Now that the wedding is over, I can write about sewing again and get back to reviewing patterns, sewing favourites, and musing on sewing in general without the focus of the wedding for every project.

Of course without any time constraints, I haven’t been sewing! I’ve been hanging out with my husband. 😀

I have some deadlines coming up for some challenges. The Outfit Along ends at the end of the month. I haven’t even muslined the dress and I am only five inches into my Embrace knit wrap. Along with this, I could be taking part in the Bra-a-Week challenge (I have some bra fabrics on the way!) or the Sundress sew-a-long (I haven’t even settled on a pattern for this one)…or sewing up the three projects I have already cut out… (two Jenna cardis and another M6696). Nope. Hanging out with my husband and cuddling him like crazy.

Lucky for you, I have a project kicking around from the end of May to blog about! Phew!

I got the fabric for my dress back in May during a thrift store visit and basically made the dress in the same week. The fabric is actually an Ikea duvet cover and had the stripes on both sides, which means double the fabric. There were two colourways and I kick myself for not picking up the blue/green colourway as well. I call that thrift store regret. I often leave things behind and then dream about them later for weeks. I usually go back the next day in these circumstances, but the thrift stores get cleaned out of the good stuff pretty often. I never got the blue/green colourway, sadly. 😦

I’ve always wanted a horizontal striped dress, but I wanted multicoloured crazy stripes like the duvet. I love all stripes, but really love the multicoloured stripes. I also want more orange and yellow in my life. They are colours that just make me happy, but I know they don’t look right next to my face so the other colours worked well to keep the yellow/orange away from my face.

Really this dress was all about the stripe location and I spent about two hours deciding on where to place things before cutting it out. I held it up to my body. I looked in the mirror. I wrapped it about like a toga. I twirled in it. I cocooned myself in the fabric and thought long and hard. Okay, I spent more time playing than anything else. 😛 Do you ever just play with fabric? I can’t be the only one?!

I made the dress using Simplicity 1459 for the bodice. I left the collar off the dress and simply sewed the facing to the wrong side of the bodice and turned and pressed. In order to not have the facing issue that I had with my gingham version, I used fusible webbing to prevent the facing from turning up at the back. I also used it in a couple of locations at the front to ensure the facing laid flat. It also really helps maintain the shape of the neckline since the fabric is super soft. For the skirt, I cut out a rectangle and just gathered the skirt for a basic skirt. I made fabric-covered buttons using the orange and pink stripes so they were consistent in all the buttons. I didn’t want to worry about the buttons turning about and the stripes not matching up correctly. I stripe-matched on the side seams and the front bodice. I think I did an okay job. It’s off by a millimeter here or there, but overall pretty good. Like the gingham version, I finished the armholes with self-made bias tape. I also put in a short side zipper, which I installed by handpicking, and side-seam pockets.

I also made a matching band for a new hat I got:

Hahha, such a nerd.

I chose to have the white stripes go across my chest and the orange stripes across my waist. This worked perfectly and gives the dress a wicked shape for my body. I’ve been wearing this dress constantly since I made it. It’s extremely comfortable due to the lack of a waist band.The fabric is so soft, too. It’s 100% cotton, but the cotton feels brushed and lovely. It’s like wearing around a comfy duvet cover all day…wait… it’s literally that. 😉

   

I wore the dress for Me-Made-May, our Stag and Doe, and for our minimoon in Niagara Falls. A T-rex invaded my personal space to tell me she liked my dress.

The only issue with the dress is that the neckline doesn’t quite sit flat at my cleavage line when I am sitting forward. It’s a little baggy there and the v-neck sometimes gaps. It doesn’t bother me, though, since it still provides enough coverage that I don’t need to worry about flashing people. Just means I need to stop slouching!

Here is my much-delayed photoshoot:

 

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