Pretty Dresses

Last week I left a cryptic message promising pretty dresses for last Wednesday. Unfortunately, I got a bladder infection and a reaction to the antibiotics I took to treat it. And then I had to dump the creep that I called my boyfriend. Let's just say, I understand the power of orange knickers on a new level. But fear not, for I return and bring with me three of the four promised dresses. The fourth is basically complete and is just awaiting a finishing touch.

The first is awesome. It has secret pockets. I love the secret pockets. They're just so awesome. You can secretly rub your tummy or hide secret things in them that no one will know about. The pattern is red, blue, and yellow flowers, kind of in a stained-glass way. It's cotton and trapeze style; comfy and cool for the summer. It started its life as a long, big skirt. I took off the waistband, pleated the excess fabric onto the front, and then attached a new waistband and the ruffle collar-straps. The pleating in front makes it look really great belted too. It also has elastic on the back to make it adjustable.

The second one I also love. The bodice is made from houndstooth old lady pants and the skirt is made from old curtains. It's a full circle skirt. What I especially love about this one is the pale pink ribbon handsewn inside the bodice and the maroon-ish zipper. Nice, hidden touches of color. Of course the outside of the dress is adorable too. The skirt has silver and white circular line designs on it. It tricks the eye into wanting to see black circular line designs on it too. It's a sweet, flirty dress that due to its muted palette can also be quite demure.

Guess what? I love the third one too, despite all the trouble it gave me. It's just a very flattering dress. It is black with small polka dots about half the size of a dime. I have it a bit of a sweetheart neckline with a dart down the center front. It was inspired by '50s halters but instead of a full circle skirt, it has a straight skirt that is gathered at the sides and back. The front has a section of ungathered skirt about 4-6" wide. It almmost gives the dress more of a wiggle dress silhouette. Very sexy and flattering. I made it from an soft cotton skirt.

I love all of the dresses; I wish I was keeping them. They're all going to go up for sale on etsy once I get my store up either later today or tomorrow if all goes smoothly. I'll post a link/announcement up here when they're up.

Mas info if you're interested: They all fit me at about 33" inch bust and a 25-26" waist i.e. the fit a women who wear a size small. The trapeze dress can expand to fit up to a size large comfortably, and the polka dot dress can be let out to fit up to a 28" waist and 36-38" bust. I haven't measured them yet to be entirely sure, but the polka dot and circular print dress should have a 34" bust and 26" waist. Both the polka dot dress and the trapeze dress are made of 100% cotton. I'm not entirely sure of what the circular print dress is made of, so if you have fabric allergies, I'd avoid it to be safe. Some serged edges are left on the dresses I reconstructed from other garments, otherwise the seams are flat felled or covered with bias tape, except for the back seam along the zipper which may be zig-zagged to leave the dresses able to be taken out a bit. And last, since I use repurposed fabric they may not be in perfect condition. However, they don't have any big, glaring flaws that would need to be covered up. You'd have to be actively searching for them with a rather close view of the fabric to find any.

Sewing up a storm,
Ivy Frozen