Hey! I made a striped knit dress. Revolutionary.
This is a sleeveless version of McCalls 6599, a Fashion Star pattern. What is Fashion Star? I just Googled it and I'm very disturbed by what I'm seeing, and not just because the landing page is plastered with a huge photo of Jessica Simpson and Nicole Ritchie. The grand prize, essentially, seems to be the opportunity to sell your soul and relinquish all control of your production process to H&M and Macy's so your designs can be manufactured for dirt cheap in mass quantities of polyester in Bangladesh factories. Wow, chance of a lifetime!
Moving on.
Yes, please note that McCalls so graciously drafted us a large rectangle pattern piece so we can make a scarf to wear with our dresses (view C). Innovation celebration.
I made the dress in a knit instead of the called-for woven + zipper because, c'mon, I'm me. This meant cutting the back on the fold instead of as two. The bodice is fully lined and attached to the skirt as one. The stripey design element is my own doing, not the pattern's.
I made the dress sleeveless because with sleeves, the stripes were rather overwhelming when they were moving in all those different directions all over my body. I like wearing dresses with sleeves that I don't have to layer, but I didn't want to look like a jailbird.
I originally cut the bodice so I could add the waistband panel thing as in View B, but decided that I preferred to have only one seam that hit my natural waist (surprise). So I just attached the skirt higher up than where it was meant to go. Works fine.
There ain't a whole lot more to say about this dress, but I kinda think it's a perfect addition to my wardrobe. It's just a princess-seamed bodice and a some-fraction-of-a-circle-skirt, but I love that it's simple yet still interesting. I cut down the amount of circle to make it a little less fussy so I can easily wear it just about anywhere.
I used cotton jersey for this project, partly because it was the only dress-worthy fabric I felt like using from my stash, and partly because I don't abide by seasonal rules like "Don't wear short cotton dresses during Nor'easters or Frankenstorms or winter in general." I do what I want! And I own thermal tights.
I considered erasing that door hook from this photo because it's positioned awkwardly right by my face, but it looks like a little wonky-eyed two-legged octopus and that's kinda cute. Just consider him a loyal participant in my half-assed photo shoots, please.
Anyway, how do you feel about the show Fashion Star? If you know nothing about that, then tell me how you feel about wearing cotton knit dresses in winter. ;)
