Goodbye Valentino

First Summer Dress

In my book, the best season of all started Monday -

H a p p y S u m m e r E v e r y o n e !
It’s time for warm weather, fresh produce, beach vacations and carefree clothing :)

I’m celebrating with a new dress sewn in Oscar de la Renta’s Turquoise Border Print Cotton Twill from Mood Fabrics. I ordered the fabric last summer which is no longer available, but do check out Moods’ fabulous border prints HERE.

This dress marks my second attempt at sewing a Vintage pattern. Inspired by one of my favorite television shows, That Girl! I ordered this 1966 McCall’s pattern (8948) as a Mother-of-the-Bride dress contender.

The pattern has now been reduced to Luau status, but that’s OK .

At last I have found a true shift pattern that is not boxy on me, which I attribute to the nice shaping of the long curved front darts. Originating at the hips and ending at the top of the bodice, they practically disappear into the print.

Since the fabric is slightly heavy with a little stretch, I safely eliminated the lining. I also laid the pattern pieces out on the cross grain to incorporate the border along the top of the dress.

What about the crisscrossed straps you ask?

I had a vision for the turquoise crisscrossed straps, and cut the fabric so the white geometric border would begin on the inside of the strap (at the front of the dress) and end on the outside of the strap at the back. It was CUTE! Sadly, the fabric buckled between the straps no matter what remedy I attempted.

One more issue surfaced which knocked the pattern out of MOB contention. The top of the pattern was big requiring larger side seams and resulting in uneven edges along the upper edge of the bodice. The back was uncomfortably low. I added a 1 ½ inch strip of fabric to the back, but now my perfectly sewn invisible zipper no longer reached the top of the dress.

When Hubby gave the dress a B, I retreated to isolation. Recalling Susan Khalje’s words of wisdom I remembered that a pattern is just the starting point. Then I uncrossed the straps and got creative.
What do you think?

Let the summer begin!



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