Retro fabric dress

Retro fabric dress

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• 8.10.2011

A week before the wedding I got into a sewing/cutting frenzy and really wanted to use some super cute vintage print fabric I had.  My mom thought I would like it and picked it up for me at Goodwill for like $1.99 for two yards.  Pretty cool to find cute and usable fabric for such a good deal!

I envisioned it made up into a cute, loosely retro-ey dress like some of the sweet floral print ones I've seen around and saved in my dress inspiration folder.

Ruche:

ModCloth:

And I loved this Anthro dress last summer:

More Anthro:

Anyway, lots of inspiration--all over the place, really.

I went back and forth on which pattern to use--something with a midriff panel?  Something with wide straps, or spaghetti?  I have plenty of patterns I could modify, but I wasn't sure what to do.

I ended up using a pattern my mom bought for me when I was 17 or something--a pretty dated pattern.  But I put my own spin on it and it turned out pretty cute!

There it is, Simplicity 4531, but I cut it down to make it a little more low-cut in the front and way more low-cut in the back.  In my book, if it's a strappy dress to begin with, it's gonna show some skin.  Not cute otherwise.  Anyway it came out very fun!  A short-ish, wearable gathered skirt to go with the bodice.  And it's super cute with a wide leather belt!  Here it is plain...

Here's an up-close of the cute vintage-ey print.  Love the colors!

It's nice to have dresses that are cute but not too fancy.  I feel like this could go to the farmer's market, the movies, lunch, brunch or breakfast... or on errands, which, let's be honest, is the most common of those options anyway.

Other bonus of this dress--because it was so simple (four pieces plus lining and straps) it only took an hour or an hour and a half to make.  I should make dresses like this more often... no midriff panel so half as many horizontal seams!