With some sunny days off and on here in Oregon, I've been thinking about cute summery dresses! I made this dress the other day:
The fabric is some my mom bought me a year or more ago at JoAnn's because she thought I would like it. I've been saving it and I think it works great with this style! I can't tell if the background is black or navy, so I doubt you can tell in the pics... I used dark navy thread but a black zipper, does that help?
I used my standby for strapless dresses, the discontinued McCalls 5849. I made mine quite a lot longer than this, though, and added some ruching at the center front to make it look like gathered casing that houses the straps.
Funny, after I had made this dress, I saw a very similar print on one at
Fred Flare! It's cute but I stand by my design.
I looove Zooey Deschanel so on a photostream of her cute looks I saw this dress. How cute is she? The style is almost identical to mine; the strap closure is a little different. If I wanted I could tack the halter ties down in the back to get this look.
Hooray for summer!
Zooey rocks all over the place. I think your dress is quite loverly
ReplyDeleteIt's gorgeous - the shape is just perfect! This spring I've been really into dark backgrounds with florals. It's something a bit different from the usual pastel colours for the summer.
ReplyDeleteWow! It really does resemble the Fred Flare dress - love it!
ReplyDeleteI just found this pattern online for $2. Yay!
ReplyDeleteoh i love it! your talents never cease to amaze me. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday!
Bre @ http://theredbungalow.blogspot.com
cute! I love the fabric!
ReplyDeleteit turned out beautifully! i particularly love the strap addition, i think it's so flattering for summer. I may just have to make a knock-off. ;)
ReplyDeleteSo cute!! Love it--and I think Zooey is adorable!
ReplyDeletecute! Do you think something life this would work in a knit? That would be so comfy:)
ReplyDeleteOh that is sooooo cute!! GREAT Job!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic dress! I'm also a fan of Zooey too and love her girly, quirky style. Love the neck strap addition to the strapless dress, kind of like a safety feature!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally following ur blog, I just love it, I also love to make clothes and decorating items specially out of recycled materials, I luv creating new things out of old materials, I just wish I could have time to a project each day, and this dress came out gorgeous by the way, Great Job!
ReplyDeletexoxo
www.flowerchildstyle.blogspot.com
That dress is fab, I love the print! Good idea on making it a bit longer too...it's a perfect day dress length :D
ReplyDeleteVery Zooey esque! It would look awesome with a jean vest over top too that would remind me of her also! Love what you did!!
ReplyDelete~Morgan
Meet Virginia!
Meet Virginia!
Meet Virginia!
Your dress turned out so cute. I love the alterations you made to the original pattern. Makes me anxious to do some summer sewing for myself!
ReplyDeletevery nice! Don't you love when you're one step ahead of a trend?
ReplyDeleteVery cute dress! And that's convenient, that you can't decide whether it's blue or black. That way you have more shoes to combine with :-)
ReplyDeleteWow. You're lucky that you don't live close to me because this might get stolen. By someone. Not me.
ReplyDeleteThis is stunning! Question - do you think it would be possible to use the bodice part of Macaron from Colette Patterns to make a similar style dress? I was thinking I could use the pattern for the top part and then just add a gathered skirt. I love this style!
ReplyDeleteHi Kat!
ReplyDeleteYou can always add a gathered skirt to any dress pattern, as long as you get the waist at the right place, which you would with the Macaron because it already has a natural waistband. I think you'd have to be really careful about using the midrif/bodice part as a dress on its own, since it probably fits way looser than a strapless dress should. If you measure as you cut, you probably could get it right, but it's tricky and might not fit right. There are a few other tube dress patterns out there, Simplicity has one in the formal section, I recommend buying one of those and adding the skirt you want!