Still Life with Wine Glasses

Happy New Year!

‘Long time listener, first time caller’ – This is my first post here on The Monthly Stitch. I’m hoping to participate throughout 2016 when possible.

I finished this dress on January 2 so it’s my first official make of 2016. I’m sneaking in to this month’s theme as there are some rather fabulous purple wine glasses in the print. See if you can spot them!

I bought this rather mad fabric for $10 on TradeMe and it was touch and go when it arrived – I couldn’t decide if I loved or hated it. However it turns out I LOVE it! It has a ‘Vincent van Gogh is alive and well in the 1980s‘ thing going on that I’m digging. It also drapes beautifully and is a pleasure to sew.

I was feeling bit of nostalgia for a floral dress my mother made me when I was about 12 or 13 – which fits the late 80s, early 90s vibe. This lead me to decide on a loose fitting, dropped waist design. (I also saw a sage green dress – which was my favourite colour in 1990 – in a similar style in a shop recently.)

I used Kwik Sew 3380 as a jumping off point for the bodice of the dress. I made the View B neckline with facing but drafted the View A for length. I’ve made this pattern in its entirety before so I chose to make a size M (I’m somewhere between a commercial size 10 and 12). I knew the M was a loose fit on me and would give me the fit I desired.

Given the sheer amount of colours in the print, and the brightness of said colours, I chose to cut the bodice pieces so I would have navy, rather than say lime green, sitting next to my face.

I then drafted a much less flared, slightly gathered, long skirt for the fit and style I had envisioned.

Apart from the time spent thinking to realise my design and wrestling with large amounts of fabric in the skirt, this was a walk in the park to make. (Disclaimer: I did chose to hand sew all the hems, and that took about 2 hours. But that’s a choice not a necessity.)

I can see myself wearing this dress a lot. It’s comfortable, cool, drapes well, and is fun. It definitely has dress up or dress down possibilities. It certainly won’t allow any fading into the background – but that’s not really me anyway!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with!

You can see more of what I make at my blog: Spare Room Style

X Naomi