The Hay Fever Dress - Project Sewn Week 3

Thanks a gah-zillion to everyone who voted for me last week on Project Sewn. I made it through to the next round!! Wah-to the-hoo!

For Week 3 the theme is 'Graphic Print' and here's my bright florally entry. Makes my nose itchy just looking at it! It's Spring in Australia and that means hay fever time. Goodbye jumpers and cardigans, hello tissues.

Once again, check out the fabulous entries and VOTE for your favourite!

I learnt something about myself with this challenge. I realised that even though I love prints and they are well represented in my gigantic fabric stash(es), I rarely actually sew with a print! Turns out when I go into a fabric store without a project in mind I buy up on prints, but when I go in with a pattern or a design in my head first, I lean towards solid colours. Curious-er and curious-er.

In fact, three quarters of my garments in my past projects are with solid colours. I need an intervention.

I loved this challenge for breaking me out of my design cycle and letting the design be inspired by the fabric first.
So here's the nitty gritty:
Pattern I used the bodice of Vogue 8280 for this dress with some heavy modifications. You can check my original review of this pattern here to see the changes I made.
I drafted my own skirt and sleeves.

Fabric and Construction For the shell of the dress I used a beautiful cotton sateen that I bought on sale from Spotlight for $4 a metre. This.never.happens.to.me. Cue high-five-ing strangers.
The dress is fully lined, and closed with an invisible zipper down the centre back.

The feature of this dress is a row of pleats along the hem of the skirt and the sleeves.
This took foooorreeeevvvveeerrrrr! Each pleat was individually sewn down and took a total of 4 metres of fabric and four hours to complete. I love the effect though so it was worth it.
I cut the pleats on the straight grain to make them more rigid and less stretchy. This gives the pleats a nice little kick out at the edges which I love.

I love the heart shape of the bodice and the galaxy dress shape of the shoulders. It just feels so freaking feminine!

Styling
Flower crown from Sportsgirl
Red leather bow belt from JigSaw
Patchuli Floc shoes from Melissa Shoes
Chanel lipstick #98 - This is my new absolute favourite red. Not too dark, not too bright, not too shiny, not too matt. Just perfection!

Special Mentions Today, the 15th of October is mine and my husbands second wedding anniversary and the first with our baby boy. Don't want to gross you guys out too much but I really love this guy. More than sewing. And fabric. That's a lot.

Don't forget to check out the other entries and VOTE for your favourite! Voting closes Thursday at 8pm MDT.
Thanks again for all your support! :))