Okay so if you follow me on Instagram this is no surprise to you as I did a little live stream and talked about working on this one. To the right, you have the most adorable blue dress, I'm talking this is so my fav dress, and like it's totally 20 years old at least. Maybe even older than that who knows. And then to the left we have a replica, that I did last night.
Thanks for the support Travis!
I pulled this floral print out of my nifty little box, I had two pieces 36x45, and a second piece 20x45 so not a lot to work with. I'm pretty sure its 100% cotton because the fabric has the little cotton symbol on it. Also it feels like cotton. And presses like cotton.
FABRIC: Check, Pattern :( oh we don't have one of those. Soooo, what do I do? I went ahead and traced my dress out onto paper, I made some adjustments, (most of the time, you actually have to deconstruct the garment in order to do this. but this dress was simple enough that I didn't have to take it apart to trace the pieces. That said, I did have to adjust it a little/ fill in the blanks so to speak.)
Cutting it out, I choose to cut it (mostly) on the bias, as that gives a woven or non-stretch the most stretch. Here's a little video to explain it to you.
I'm glad I made that decision because this dress has no buttons or zipper or any kind of closure so it really needs a little stretch.
I also cut 1 inch wide strips on the bias, that I then pressed into quarters making bias tape. (I won't post a video because its a long and arduous process, also not fun, but looks great.)
Lastly I went and sewed the thing up. it was easy, first center back, then I gathered front yoke, attached it to front, sewed side seams and hemmed the bottom a half inch. I also gathered the top and sides. Last thing was to finish the top with the bias tape and this part is where it gets tricky.
First we finish center front of the yoke, then measure out 13 3/4 inches for a strap. circle around the armhole/back leaving another 13 3/4 inches for the other strap. Sew it all down. Now sew the ends of the straps 4 inches away from the side seam. Voila, how'd I do guys!?
Okay so maybe one has more curve to it than the other. But the fit is good and that's really what counts.
As I said before that blue dress is easily 20 years old, I've had it forever, and I've been hit on every time I've worn it out. I call it my "hitting on dress", or "always gets her man dress" it has such a 90's/2000's vibe. I feel like I've seen Alyssa Milano or Drew Barrymore where this bad boy.
No Sarah, but it probably is your dress, or at least was your dress lol. Because of the age of the dress I definitely wanted my whole look to carry that vibe. I kept both my hair and make up simple. I really just wanted Cher's make up (Clueless) and Robins hair (Encino Man) not sure if I really achieved the look, so I made sure to throw on some platforms for good measure. I really am only missing one of those mini backpacks, I bought one for my niece as a birthday present and am really regretting on buying one for myself because it would have been perfect.
Anyways that's pretty much it for me, if your bored feel free to check out my shop! Also follow me on Instagram (MadsenCreations) and Facebook (Madsen Creations by Rachel Madsen) I'll see you friday! Pics below