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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Happy colors! Mint and yellow linen

Who doesn't love mint?  And yellow?  I sure do.  And I had some dress-weight linen from JoAnn in yellow, and bought some mint with a skirt in mind--but I decided to combine them.  I think I was subconsciously influenced by this Anthro dress from last year...

Anyway.  Not too long ago I bought Simplicity 2250, and I hadn't used it yet.  I actually really like the jacket it comes with, but don't have the right fabric for it.  Anyway...

I wanted to make the crossover bodice dress, but of a very different fabric than the small stripe on the pattern cover.

So I used it for the bodice of this dress, which I cut out of scraps of yellow linen.  I even had a matching bright yellow polished cotton that I used for the lining!  I did modify it a little in that I didn't want to give it the ties in the center back, or the ruffled top trip--I just adjusted as I cut and made it plain.

For the skirt, I cut the lovely mint linen into as full a 1/4 circle skirt as I could.  It's mostly just an A-line.

Here it is!

See the plainer back?  It worked out perfectly size-wise, although it doesn't have a top band like the front does.

I'm excited to wear it soon, after this past week of temps in the mid-80's and above!

Note on the pattern--definitely one of the more complicated ones I've made.  As in, I actually read the instructions.  I never do that normally because I already know how most garments are constructed, and they often don't vary much.  But this one, I followed step-by-step!  There are several oddly shaped darts and pieces.  It ended up being fine, but I would not recommend this pattern for a new sewist.  I've heard bad things about this pattern from others, too...

But it did turn out okay, so my verdict is, it's usable but not for the inexperienced!

22 comments

  1. This is so cute. Perfect color combination.

    Hugs,
    Trine

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  2. AH! I'm impressed that you got that pattern to work! I would say I'm an intermediate sewer and this pattern was the death of me. I just could not get the bodice to fit properly! It fit one boob perfectly but the other side was just all loosey-goosey. And trying to adjust the darts? Impossible!

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    1. Oh, no! I can definitely see how that could happen--maybe your darts weren't long enough on the looser side? This was definitely one where I kept the pattern pieces pinned to the fabric until the last minute when I sewed it! I hope you got it worked out eventually!

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  3. the color combo is stunning!! great job!

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  4. I like it a lot, especially how the style (more the colors and the blocking than the cut) is very different to the dresses you usually show imo. It's fun to change it up and show a range.

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    1. Thanks, I think it's different too, cool that you noticed that! Definitely good to try new things. =)

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  5. Such a fresh and sommer-y outfit! Looks amazing. :o)

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  6. I love mint so much. It's so fresh and pretty. Your bodice looks like it fits so perfectly :) I bet you'll love wearing this!

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    1. OMG, me too, kind of obsessed with mint. ;) Thanks!!

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  7. Yikes, I bought this pattern ages ago but I have yet to use it. Now I'm nervous to! I guess I'll definitely have to make a muslin of it first, instead of just diving in like I usually do. Good to know that it was a pain, though!

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    1. Oh, haha, no need to be nervous, just go slowly and read each step... I didn't have any actual problems, just had to be really careful to follow the dart guidelines etc! You can do it!

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  8. I LOVE the bodice on this! The color combo looks so much nicer in this style than the inspiration photo...maybe because it makes me think pin-up. :)

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    1. Oh, thanks! Yes, I'm not much of a straight-up-and-down dress person, either; I like mine more fitted normally!

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  9. Am I the only one that doesn't love this dress? I like the inspiration silhouette much better. This just like two dresses mishmoshed
    Together. I have this pattern too and was a little nervous about the bodice. But I'll try it now. I like the colors, just not for this style of dress. Looks a tad dowdy, but thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Haha, I don't look good in the straight lines of the shift/60's-ey shape, but some people can pull it off! The inspiration photo was sort of just to show the color--that's where the inspiration ended, because the fabric and pattern are indeed very different!

      Good luck with the pattern!

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  10. What a lovely dress! The colours are fab and I think the bodice of your dress shows off the details in the pattern so much better than the pattern pictures.

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    1. Thanks! Yes, it gets a little confusing when they make it in stripes...

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  11. Anonymous5/20/2012

    So, so cute! I love this!

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  12. Your dress looks so great! I've been really frustrated by this pattern. It's great to see that yours worked out and is so well fitted.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, sorry to hear that! Just do your best to line everything up, I guess, and make it work somehow! ;)

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