July 14, 2013

Retro stripes!

My striped dress is finished! And just in time too, because next week's weather forecast is about sun and sun.
In fact, it's a rather simple dress: Bodice fitted to the waist, big gathered skirt with wide hem. Invisible zipper at the side, faced neckline. Slightly elongated shoulder/cut-on cap sleeve (a detail copied from the Marion dress). Four darts at the back, center front seam with front darts from there.

The real attraction is all in the placement of those stripes. 
The fabric is a thin, fairly loosely woven cotton with red and dark blue/black stripes of various widths woven in. It's pretty ideal for a hot-weather-dress: thin enough to be cool and light to wear but just heavy enough not to be see-through. And, as I wrote before, if I tire of the bright colour, I can always dye the dress without having to worry about the topstitched hems. For now, I like it though.

Here's the back. You can see how carefully I stitched those back darts: they're not even visible in the picture. Normally, I use two wide back darts on a bodice with a waist seam but here I thought making four would allow me to make those horizontal stripes look uninterrupted.

There are no pockets (yet). In my vintage fashion magazines, dresses like this one usually have patch pockets with the stripes running in a different direction. I thought about that but was afraid that might make the whole a bit too costume-y. And I could always add them later. Or make patch pockets with the stripes matching those of the skirt, or in-seam pockets...

Again, E was willing to take the pictures. In fact, he was so enthousiastic, he got started before I was quite ready...  

P.S. - Yes, that little balcony is the largest outdoor space belonging to our appartment.
- And yes, that corner of my work room near the door is a mess.
- No, I don't usually sun-bathe on that table. It was their already and adding a chair would have made the balcony too full for pictures. (in fact, I'm not big on sun-bathing anyway. I get sun-burnt so easily)
- No, it's not all my hair. Well, the hair is, but I bought a ... eh... thing which fills up most of that bun. It makes it surprisingly light and easy to wear. Strangely, it's much more comfortable than a normal up-do. And I enjoy the look.
- I made that belt last year. You can see it in detail here. So far, I didn't wear it often but it matches this dress perfectly.

16 comments:

  1. what a perfect striped dress, so nice for summer. and your hair looks great.

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  2. Gorgeous dress, great stitching to get all those stripes to line up, & love the up-do! A perfect dress for all this lovely hot weather we've been having.

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  3. Love the dress! You're a master at stripe matching, it reminds me of my first draping class at FIT... I love the lenght too!! I also have a hair "donut" and wear my hair like this at least twice a week (when they are wet). It's super convenient because I spend a lot of time in the car and I can rest my head against the seat (something you cannot do with a regular bun.

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  4. Love the dress and the photo shoot. It's a very flattering shape for you. Enjoy the summer.

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  5. Lovely dress. Good work on those darts especially on striped fabric. May I say you look Audrey Hepburn -ish in this outfit :)

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  6. Hurrah for stripes! I've heard women refer to this hairstyle as a "sock bun" because instead of the store-bought donut-shaped thing you can use a rolled-up sock with the toes cut off :) I love the style, I wish I had thought to try it before I cut my hair short.

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  7. Lovely dress, and beautifully retro! I like the hairstyle too, it suits you :)

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  8. Love the dress! Retro but totally wearable today. Love the pictures!

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  9. The dress is magnificent !

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  10. A lovely dress, very nice with the different ways the stripes go!

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  11. I agree with everyone above! Beautiful dress. It looks perfectly comfortable, but totally polished. I'm always so inspired when I read your blog.

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  12. You look so fabulous! Can't remember if you posted a tech drawing - will have to go back & check. If you haven't yet can you post one? Thanks!

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  13. The shape of this is lovely! I especially love the bodice. That trick with the stripes around the neckline is so clever I'm surprised more people don't use it. You might consider uploading this on Kollabora—I'm positive everyone there would love it.

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  14. great job on the stripe-matching. Very clever to make two darts. I love this dress, it looks so great on you! You should wear it all the time!

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  15. Oh my goodness that dress is AMAZING! You look stunning xx

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  16. This dress is beautiful! Beautiful! Love the stripes. And I'm impressed with the darts not being visible at all. Excellent!

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